Alex pulled her closer, holding her tightly with her right arm and quieting her quivering with her kiss. She pulled back slightly as Cassidy’s body slowly relaxed. “I will never let you go, Cass…I am so sorry.”
Cassidy curled into the agent’s embrace as her tears fell. “Don’t, Alex, I know… I know you are…just hold me, please.”
The agent inhaled all of her own emotions. Cassidy’s presence in her life and in her arms seemed to fill an emptiness she had failed to recognize. She pulled the teacher’s face upward to look at her. “I don’t think I ever lived before you,” Alex admitted as her tears begin to fall. Cassidy stroked her cheek and collapsed back into her.
The teacher was shaken by her own need. As she lay in Alex’s arms the truth escaped her lips, “I have never loved anyone except you.” She held on to the woman she loved and drifted off into sleep knowing that she was lying in the arms of the person she was meant to spend her life with. Alex closed her eyes promising she would never again run from the woman beside her; she would never let Cassidy O’Brien go.
here are you going?” Cassidy pulled the agent to her as Alex pulled herself up.
The agent stopped and bent over, kissing Cassidy gently. “I have some things I need to take care of.”
“Now?”
“Cass…don’t make this any harder.” Cassidy sighed playfully. “I will be back in a couple of hours. Fallon will be here tomorrow and I need to go check on something before he gets here.”
“Brian is coming to New York? Why?” Alex rubbed her temple. “Alex?”
“It’s nothing to worry about.” Cassidy raised her eyebrow as she gently caressed the agent’s arm. “Don’t worry,” the agent touched her lover’s cheek.
“You are,” Cassidy observed.
Alex bit her lip to suppress a chuckle. “How do you do that?”
“What?” Cassidy asked. Alex looked at her, searching her eyes. The teacher smiled. “Well, Agent, you are not as hard to read as you think.”
“Is that right?” Alex asked.
“It is.”
“What am I thinking right now?”
Cassidy’s face was overtaken by a mischievous grin. “That you’d rather be climbing back in this bed.”
“That’s what you think?” Alex tried to be serious but when Cassidy looked at her she started to laugh. “I give up,” Alex kissed the woman. “I do love you, Cassidy O’Brien,” she said as she made her way to her feet.
“Alex?” Cassidy called to the agent.
“Yeah?”
“You would tell me, right? I mean if I needed to be worried.”
Alex made her way back to the woman in the bed, buttoning her shirt along the way. “Cass, you let me worry about this case, okay? I will not let anything happen to you, believe me,” she stroked the teacher’s cheek and Cassidy closed her eyes.
“I know,” Cassidy sighed.
Alex finished getting dressed as Cassidy continued watching the agent’s every move. “Do you want me to get Dylan on my way back?” Cassidy was silent for a long moment. Her heart filled at the simple gesture the agent offered. Alex looked at her and saw the love spilling from her. “What?”
“You,” Cassidy smiled.
Alex shook her head. “Call your mother. I’ll get him.”
“Just take my car, Alex,” the teacher suggested.
“What?”
“Then you won’t have to take mom’s seat. Just take the SUV.”
“Cass…” Cassidy smiled and pulled the covers up. Alex was surprised. All of these little things, they meant more to her than she could ever express to this woman. “Okay, how about pizza? Maybe George’s?”
Cassidy smiled as the agent’s hand opened the door. “I love you, Alex.”
“Yeah? Well, that’s good because I love you. I’ll see you,” Alex called back.
Cassidy pulled the pillow to her and breathed in the scent of Alex as the agent passed through the door. She’d never felt so complete, so loved, and strangely, so safe in all her life. They were feelings that she didn’t know could exist as they did now. The teacher could tell the agent was concerned about something. That worried her but in some strange way she was thankful for the current chaos. It brought her Alex. She closed her eyes trying to recall what life had been like just over a week ago. She remembered it but she couldn’t feel it. The agent had changed her life in a way she had only dreamed possible. Now, she just waited; waited for Alex to walk back through the door.
Alex made her way up the narrow staircase. A tall, broad shouldered man met her at the top. He was in his thirties, handsome with sandy colored, short hair and deep blue eyes. The agent smiled when he offered her a hug. “Brady,” she greeted him.
“Toles…what the hell is going on?” He asked as he broke their embrace.
“Ahhh. I’m not sure Steven… this Brackett…”
“Yeah, I did some digging,” he reached in his jacket and handed her a manila envelope.
Alex opened it and slid out several sheets of paper. “What the hell?” Steven Brady nodded his own surprise. “I figured the NSA. She’s DCIS? At the Pentagon?”
“Appears so,” Brady confirmed.
“Does Taylor know?”
“Yeah, he found it. You know him; he can uncover any needle in any haystack.”
“All right… so why is the DOD looking into my old case files? Shit… Steven…I was DOD.”
Steven Brady and Alex Toles had worked many cases together at the NSA before he moved to the New York office. He had been a Navy Seal, had served overseas for several years as well, and had lost several of his men in an unexpected IED attack in Afghanistan. The two had a great deal in common and were able to read each other well. “Alex, I don’t know,” he confessed. “What’s the deal with O’Brien? I saw the traffic cam.”
“I don’t know…but Krause is involved somehow…and now DCIS…”
Brady’s surprise was evident. “Jonathan Krause? You think O’Brien’s involved in arms sales?”
“Maybe… Campaigns cost money and he sure does live high on the hog.”
Brady spoke carefully. “What about his wife?”
Alex ran her tongue along the inside of her bottom lip. “She doesn’t know anything. She does know Krause.”
“Maybe she knows something that she doesn’t realize is important,” Brady suggested. That thought had crossed Alex’s mind but she knew she needed to be careful how she approached her dialogue with Cassidy. “Look at the last picture,” Brady instructed Alex.
Alex’s face fell. She reached for the bridge of her nose and held onto it for a long moment, grasping it so hard she left an imprint. “Brady…”
“Yeah… apparently they go way back…”
Alex swallowed hard and looked back down. “Fisher? Christ, Brady….They knew they were going to assign me to this. They knew it.” Brady nodded his agreement. “But why?”
“I don’t know.”
Alex let out a sarcastic laugh. “They didn’t count on Cassidy… wild card,” she muttered.
“What do you mean?” Brady asked. Alex sighed and looked at him, offering a slight tilt of her head. “Ooohhh,” he said, gaining a new understanding. “Haven’t lost your touch, I see,” he smiled.
“It’s not like that,” Alex said seriously.
“Don’t tell me the congressman’s ex actually tamed the beast,” he lightened the mood. Alex shrugged a bit. “She must really be something, Toles.”
“She is. Brady, if the letters…if they started as a way to divert attention… make a play at O’Brien…”
“What do you mean started?” Brady asked. Alex reached in her jacket and handed him the most recent letter. As the man studied it his gaze narrowed and his jaw twitched. “This guy’s the real deal.” Alex nodded. “Looks like there’s more than one wild card, Toles. What do you need me to do?”
“Process that. See if you can get anything at all from it, anything. And see if you can find out who set her up in t
he FBI. Tate knows she’s undercover. I am certain of that. This has deeper roots, someone in the Pentagon, CIA… something… It’s not just Krause, not given all this…. And Fisher?He has to have some place local. That’s got to be my priority.”
“You want me to work that here?”
“No. Fallon will be here tomorrow. Think I’ll try a different angle on that front.”
“P.D.?” He asked. Alex nodded. “What about Brackett?”
“I told Fallon to trail her today. We’ll see if she shows her hand. She’s brash… cocky.”
Brady looked at his friend. “You think Tate is in on all this?”
“I think Tate knows she has another agenda…whether he’s a player or he’s being played; I don’t know.”
“I’ll work that one a bit,” Brady smiled eagerly. Alex knew he enjoyed these challenges. The agent turned to start her way back to the stairs when Brady grabbed her sleeve. “Toles…”
“Yeah?”
“Be careful,” he cautioned.
Alex nodded. “Just see what you can find. You work Brackett. I’ll work Fisher. I don’t want him anywhere near Cassidy.”
“She feel the same?” Brady asked. Alex just smiled. “Shit, Toles… From what I know…O’Brien’s gonna’ pop when he finds out,” her friend could not help but smirk a bit.
Alex took a deep breath. “Yeah, well Congressman O’Brien and I have different priorities where Cassidy is concerned.” Brady was surprised at his friend’s forthrightness. Alex was not joking about Cassidy at all. He had never seen his friend this determined nor had he ever seen the concern he saw in her eyes now. “See what you can get,” Alex said as her foot hit the stairs.
“Toles? I hope it all works out…. For you, I mean.” Alex turned back and smiled.
***
“What the hell?” Agent Brian Fallon said to himself as he pulled his black sedan over. “What is she doing?”
Agent Claire Brackett accepted an affectionate hug from the tall blonde woman in front of the coffee shop. “How’s he doing?” Brackett asked as the two headed for the entrance.
“He’s ornery. Keeps going on and on about the wife, you know,” the blonde answered.
Brackett laughed. “I think he can forget that.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think the congressman’s ex is otherwise engaged,” Brackett gloated her knowledge.
“With who?” The woman asked.
Brackett licked her lips and shrugged. “Let’s just say undercover has a new meaning at the O’Brien house.”
The woman was stunned. “Cassidy and …” Brackett shrugged with delight.
Fallon picked up his phone. “Toles?”
“Fallon? What’s going on? I thought you were going to tail Brackett.”
“I am. Toles….She just met the congressman’s girlfriend for coffee.”
“WHAT?”
“Yeah, tell me. I can’t get close. I have no reason to be on this side of town,” he explained.
“Can you see if she has anything?”
“Yeah, coffee,” Fallon said smartly.
“Funny, Fallon.”
“What the hell is it with these people?” Fallon asked.
Alex had a sinking feeling. It made sense that Brackett would find a way to penetrate the congressman’s personal life and the agent could guess what her former lover’s agenda might be. “Fallon, just stay on her. See if you can get a view…if she passes the girlfriend anything.”
“You think his girlfriend’s involved in the accident?”
“No…I think this is about something else,” Alex sighed.
Fallon was puzzled. “What?”
“Me,” Alex said flatly.
“You? Why would? Oh Christ….Alex, you think Brackett’s telling her? I mean….”
“That’s exactly what I think. Get here as early as you can tomorrow, Fallon. We have a lot to talk about. I have a feeling the shit is about to hit the fan.”
“What are you going to do?”
Alex took a deep breath. She knew now what was coming. No one expected her involvement in this case to go any deeper than finding a stalker. No one expected her to fall for Cassidy and certainly no one expected the congressman’s ex-wife to fall in love with her. Now, Alex knew more than she was ever supposed to. She had dug in and she needed to be put at bay. Cassidy was about to be outed, at least to her ex-husband. Alex needed to prepare the woman she loved for the inevitable fallout. It was yet another wrinkle she would need to press out. “I’m on my way to get Dylan. Just get here. I have other things to deal with tonight, Fallon.”
“Alex, if he reports…”
“I know. Cassidy’s safety is the priority now, Fallon. Make sure your P.D. contact knows that. Focus on Fisher and Brackett. I’ll explain the rest when I see you tomorrow.”
“Toles, are you okay?” Fallon asked with genuine concern. Alex smiled. She was confident that she and Cassidy would weather this. It was inevitable that their relationship would be exposed. She knew that since the beginning. The agent had simply hoped it would happen after the case was put to rest. Nothing about his case was simple. Nothing. And no one planned to make it easy. “Toles?” He repeated.
“I’m fine, Fallon, really. I’ll see you in the morning.” Alex hung up the phone and took a deep breath. She was determined now more than ever to get to the root of the case. Congressman Christopher O’Brien did not know Alexis Toles. She was an adversary unlike any he had faced in an election and her love for the teacher made her even more formidable. Whatever came to pass, Alex intended to prevail.
“You did what?” The man bellowed at the woman sitting in the chair. “What were you thinking?”
“I don’t know why you’re so upset,” Claire Brackett answered him. “You were worried about how close she was getting; problem solved.”
The man laughed. “I told you to be careful with Agent Toles. You are too confident when it comes to Alex.”
“Alex?” Brackett mocked as she crossed her legs casually. “That’s informal.”
He glared at her. “Listen to me, Claire, and listen carefully…Alex Toles is a genius… and she’s tenacious. You have no idea what you are playing with.”
“Relax. What can she do? The congressman will…”
“The congressman will ask that she be pulled from this case and that will just make her more determined.”
Claire Brackett rose from her chair and stepped in front of the man, running her finger down his chest, “she can’t do anything when she can’t access anything.”
He moved her hands away abruptly. “I am telling you. Back off Toles. You are feeding the fire. Maybe this is about more than just your assignment.”
Brackett rolled her eyes. The truth was that Claire Brackett was not used to rejection and she did not care for it at all. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
A door behind the pair opened slowly. “I’m sorry…”
“What is it?” The man answered abruptly.
“You’re needed downstairs, Mr. President.”
John Merrow nodded and turned back to the tall redhead. “Alex is the smartest woman I know. She figured you out in the first five minutes. You overestimate yourself as much as you underestimate her. Watch yourself, Claire.”
“Mom!” Dylan burst through the house in search of his mother.
“Slow down, Speed Racer,” Alex called ahead.
“Are we going to George’s?” He asked excitedly.
Cassidy looked over the boy standing in front of her to captures the agent’s glance. “That’s what I hear,” she smiled at Alex who returned her affectionate gaze. “Go put your backpack away.” Alex leaned against the counter and offered the woman a crooked smile. Her thumb instinctively reached her temple and began massaging it. “Okay…out with it,” Cassidy said as Alex fidgeted a bit. “Alex…”
“You’re right. We need to talk about some things, but not now, Cass.”
“Alex, we agreed…”
“Yes, we did, but I think after today…what happened earlier, we should just go have a pizza with Dylan and talk when we get back.” Cassidy looked at the agent, studying her carefully. “Cassidy, look, you and I both know sooner or later people are going to find out about us.”
“Is that what this is about?” The blonde woman asked.
Alex shook her head. “It is. Partly…only partly.”
“Alex, I’m not worried about…”
“I know that, but there are things we have to talk about Cass. I am technically on the job. Let’s just talk about it after dinner. I will tell you everything I can then,” the agent promised as Cassidy walked into her arms.
“You’re worried about Chris, aren’t you?”
Alex brushed the woman’s hair aside lovingly. “I’m worried about you.”
“I’m a big girl, Alex.”
“Mmm…I know,” Alex said as Cassidy smiled and kissed the agent.
“Mom!” Dylan yelled. Finding his mother kissing the agent, he cringed. “Gross.”
Alex became shaky and her face flushed at the realization Dylan was there. Cassidy laughed and put her head against Alex’s chest. “Not as gross as those fruit rollup things you love,” his mother said.
He shook his small head. “Are we going for pizza?”
“I don’t know, are we?” She looked at the agent.
Alex took a deep breath. It still surprised her how comfortable Cassidy was with their relationship. She wondered how that would fare when the congressman found out. “We are,” she said decisively. Dylan pulled on the agent’s hand lightly. “Yeah, okay. We’re coming,” Alex laughed. He ran out of the kitchen and down the hallway hoping his mother and the agent would follow quickly.
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