Intersection Page 17

  “I guess I just missed you,” she said in a warm, soft whisper. Cassidy seemed to transform the commanding presence of the FBI agent immediately into that of a gushing teenager.

  “Is that right?” The teacher raised an eyebrow. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing you are home then, isn’t it?” Alex felt a sense of lightness overtake her body. It was an innocent statement from the woman but it held something within it that resonated for the agent in an immeasurable way, ‘home’. Cassidy walked to the agent and kissed her on the cheek. “I missed you too,” she whispered.

  Alex planted a light kiss on the woman’s lips and smiled, looking into her eyes. “Aahheeem,” a voice interrupted, flushing the agent’s cheeks into at least fifty shades of crimson.

  “Yes, Mom,” Cassidy answered giving an encouraging caress of her thumb to the agent’s blushing cheek.

  “Your son does not want to leave that pool table. He’s down there lining balls up over and over again and he refuses to get his shoes on,” Rose said to her daughter before turning to the agent with a deliberate smirk. “Oh. Hello, Alex.” The agent smiled sheepishly and Cassidy chuckled knowing her mother was deriving great pleasure in the agent’s embarrassment.

  “You have created a monster,” Cassidy joked to the agent.

  “What?” Alex asked innocently.

  “He’s been down there all afternoon going on and on about how Alex said where to look at the ball and Alex said hold the stick this way….and Alex…”

  Alex sighed, “I’ll get him.”

  “Good luck with that, Agent,” Rose laughed. Alex nodded and made her way to the stairs. “You enjoyed that, didn’t you?” Cassidy shook her head at her mother.

  “I have no idea what you are talking about, Cassie.” Rose began to walk back into the hallway. “I’m going to walk down to that small market and get some pasta for dinner.” Her daughter laughed. One of the things Cassidy was the most grateful for in her life was her mother. Rose McCollum was smart, attractive and good natured, attributes she had passed on to her daughter. The two shared a friendship that transcended mother and daughter and Cassidy understood how rare that was.

  Small legs were dangling and kicking in mild protest through uncontrollable giggling as the agent entered the room. “Come on, Alex!” He cried out his objections through his own laughter.

  “Sorry…no can do, Speed Racer… Sneakers or you can forget another lesson. That’s the deal.”

  “Awww,” he groaned as Alex sat him on the large chair.

  His mother picked up the shoes and squatted in front of him. “Dylan,” she gently cautioned him, soliciting yet another warmhearted grin from the agent.

  “I’ll get the car,” Alex said giving the young man a narrowed gaze.

  “When we get home?” He called after her.

  “We’ll see,” Alex called back in an effort to hide her amusement.

  Alex paced the hallway for a few moments wondering how the visit was going. She already knew that Dylan was a sensitive child and she was worried. If the flashes of cameras had unsettled his young mind, she worried that the beeping of monitors and the sight of his father in a hospital bed attached to tubing might truly frighten him. There was something she wanted to do. She hesitantly walked to the door and peeked in the window. Dylan was sitting in the chair with Cassidy standing beside him. Gently she rapped the window. Her lover nodded, touched the boy’s shoulder and came to the door. “Everything okay?” Cassidy asked Alex.

  “Yeah,” Alex looked over the woman’s shoulder at the small boy. “Are you going to stay a little while longer?”

  “I was going to…but if you…”

  “No, no, no,” Alex returned her eyes to the woman. “I need to run out for about twenty minutes…I just wanted to know if I had time.”

  Cassidy looked at the agent pondering what she was thinking. It was only a short time ago that Alex had worried about coming between the congressman and his family. Cassidy wanted to be certain Alex felt secure. “Sure. Take whatever time you need. But, Alex, seriously are you sure you are…”

  “I’m fine Cass…I just forgot about something. Shouldn’t take me more than half an hour at most.”

  “Okay, if we’re done I’ll wait for you in the lounge.”

  “Okay.”

  When Alex returned about half an hour later Dylan’s eyes were red. Cassidy had his hand in a firm grip and she looked at Alex with an unmistakable expression of regret. It was a necessary visit but the agent’s instincts were right, Dylan was rattled. The agent’s heart sank, both for the boy and his mother. If anyone understood the anxiety hospitals could produce it was Alex Toles. “All right you two,” Alex lifted her voice. “Let’s blow this clambake; as they say.” Cassidy looked at her as though she were pleading forgiveness for doing something she had to do. Dylan kept his small eyes on his feet. Alex knelt down to him. “Get on.” He looked at her questioning. “Well, come on, piggy back out of this place. We have a lesson to get to and I can’t play on an empty stomach so let’s get a move on.” The boy was still quiet but he offered her the faintest hint of a smile and grabbed onto her neck so she could piggy back him to the car. Cassidy was silent and remained so for the forty minute drive home. Alex unbuckled Dylan and he ran up the front stairs, happy to be anywhere but where he had come from. The agent looked at her lover. “Cass…”

  “I should have listened to you.”

  “No, you were right…It’ll be okay. Go in. I’m sure your mom has dinner ready.”

  “What about you?”

  “I brought some things from home. I just want to go put them away. I’ll be right behind you, I promise.” Cassidy gave an unconvincing smile and headed into the townhouse. Alex waited until she was through the door and opened the trunk. She retrieved two bags and quietly headed through the door. She set one down at the edge of the stairs to the second floor and the other she set inside the door to the lower level before making her way into the kitchen. “What do I smell?” She called out lightheartedly.

  Rose turned to her with a smile. “Pasta. In fact, I was assured it was THE best pasta and meatballs this side of the Potomac.”

  “Oh? Did you get that at Rossi’s?” Alex asked.

  “I did,” Rose declared bringing a piping hot dish to the table where Cassidy was pouring drinks and Dylan was sitting resting the weight of his face on his elbows.

  “Well, then you have discovered one of the great truths of the area. They make their pasta fresh every morning,” Alex supported the woman’s statement. As they sat at the table Alex watched Cassidy twirl the pasta repeatedly without bringing any to her mouth and Dylan pick endlessly at the plate beneath him. Given the fact that both mother and son could polish off twice as much as Alex in a given sitting, it was another indication of the tension left by their hospital visit. Alex looked at Rose who tilted her head sideways in a bit of a helpless shrug. “Okay,” Alex pulled out her chair. “I’m going to go get those pool balls racked.” Dylan looked up at her but Cassidy remained quiet. “You need to eat that meatball, Speed Racer, before I get back…okay?” He nodded. Alex looked helplessly at the woman she loved and then to her mother who gave her an encouraging wink.

  The agent was only gone a short time when she reappeared in the doorway. “Okay you three, let’s go,” she said with some excitement in her voice.

  “You guys go. I’ll clean up,” Cassidy said.

  “NOPE,” Alex said. With a wide grin she grabbed Cassidy’s hand. “Leave it. Let’s go. You too, Rose. This is gonna’ be a match for the ages!” Dylan and Rose headed down the stairs where the pool table was already racked and three glasses of wine and a wine glass filled with ginger ale were laid out on the coffee table. Alex led Cassidy to the couch to sit beside her mother. She leaned in and whispered to her. “He needs to see you are all right and then he will be. By the way, I love you.” Rose heard every word in spite of the agent’s soft voice and smiled. Cassidy took a deep breath allowing the words to penetrate her a
nd gave the first smile she had in more than an hour.

  “Okay, Dylan. Now, we’re gonna’ play a REAL game, since I know you’ve been practicing.” She walked to the small chalk board that hung over the bar and wrote out the words as she announced them, “SPEED RACER versus THE CAP.” Cassidy wondered what that was all about and smiled earnestly as she watched Alex bounce about, knowing it was all in an attempt to cheer mother and son up. Dylan made his way to the wall and started thumbing across the pool cues, considering seriously which one to take. Alex disappeared from view momentarily behind the bar. Her excited voice pulled both Rose and Cassidy’s attention to the blank space her face had just occupied, “NO…no…not those.”

  She emerged carrying a small elongated box by its handle and handed it to Dylan. He looked at her asking silently what to do. “Open it,” Alex said with a huge smile on her face. He sat down on the floor and unclasped the two clasps that lay at either end. “You can’t play a real game unless you have a REAL cue, one that’s your size,” she said. Dylan jumped up and ran to her, throwing his arms around her waist. “Awww… you’re welcome…But hugs or not The Cap is still gonna’ beat ya’,” she affirmed returning his squeeze. Cassidy suddenly felt twenty pounds lighter and the weight continued to lift as Dylan’s laughter filled the room over the next hour. Cassidy and Rose clapped and gave ooo’s and aww’s dramatically as the pair made and missed shots; Alex sneaking in behind the boy and helping him set up his shots and egging him on when she would sink a ball with the cue behind her back.

  “I hope you know,” Rose leaned into her daughter’s ear, “how lucky you are.”

  The words traveled through every part of Cassidy and lodged in her heart as she watched Dylan sink the eight ball and “The Cap” hang her head in a playful show of defeat. The teacher laughed. It was an honest and spirited laugh at Alex’s display. “I do know,” she said watching the agent’s antics continue. “I do.”

  “So?” The man asked in an abrasive tone.

  “She’s hiding something,” the female agent responded.

  “You shouldn’t have slept with her.”

  Brackett scoffed at the assertion. “Really? I think that has worked out perfectly. She just thinks I am a jealous rookie.”

  “Does she suspect anything about the accident or not?”

  “I don’t know…she seems far more focused on the blonde, if I didn’t know her reputation I’d almost think she was ‘in love’. That might come in handy though, if he survives.”

  “Perhaps…. That vote cannot go through.”

  “Relax,” she said, running her hands along his chest. “You worry too much. He’s unconscious, no one’s talking to him.” She began to seductively nuzzle the neck before her. “Come on…”

  He pushed her away and retrieved a glass from the table. “I told you, Claire, be careful with Toles. She’s got a reputation for more than her conquests of women.”

  “Mmmm…did she steal your heart?” She batted her eyelashes.

  “Just keep digging and do it quietly. What about Fallon?”

  “He’s an oaf,” she asserted.

  The man looked at her severely. “Brian Fallon is many things, Brackett, he is not the ‘oaf’ he appears. Watch your back.”

  “Oh… stop worrying…I’ve got it covered anyway,” Brackett assured the man.

  “Mmm….we’ll see,” he said kissing her fully.

  “Maybe we should take him into…” Cassidy began, looking at her son sleeping in the bed.

  “Cass,” Alex said with some caution. “If he needs you he will come into the room. He was fine when he went to sleep.”

  “I know, but the nightmares.”

  Alex put her arms around the woman as she kept watch over her son. “Cassidy, stop. He’s all right. I’ll bet you he sleeps through the night.”

  “How can you be so sure and I’m such a mess?”

  “Look,” Alex turned the woman around, “because I’m not the one beating myself up so much I can’t see straight.”

  “Yeah, well, he stayed with Mom last night.”

  “Yes, and if he needs one of us he knows exactly where to go. What do you want to bet me?” Cassidy was unconvinced. “Come on. What do you want to bet I am right and we wake up before he does?” The truth was, Alex had some experience with nightmares. She could see the look in the boy’s eyes before he drifted off. He was thinking about becoming a billiard champion. She suspected he would be dreaming about that, at least for tonight. The nightmares would probably come, but that would likely take a few days and they would have to deal with it then. For now, he needed to rest and Alex was fairly certain he would.

  “Why ‘The Cap’?” Cassidy asked.

  Alex closed one eye and pursed her lips. “If I tell you, will you promise to come to bed and stop beating up on yourself?” Cassidy sighed. “Come on. No bets. You come with me. I’ll tell you the story behind ‘The Cap’. And... IF I’m wrong and he wakes up I will promise to do all the cooking for a week.”

  Cassidy shook her head. “Yeah, I’ll come with you and you can tell me…keep the cooking to yourself, Agent Toles.”

  Alex smiled at Cassidy’s playful response. Slowly the woman was relaxing. “I thought that was a GREAT deal!”

  “You would.”

  “Come on,” Alex said stretching out her hand. The woman followed the agent from the room, albeit a bit reluctantly.

  Alex pulled on her sweats and climbed into the large bed next to Cassidy who was lying on her side propped up on one elbow. “So…spill it agent,” the teacher directed.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Alex said mirroring her lover’s pose. “Have I told you that you are gorgeous?”

  “Uh huh, twice… spill.”

  Alex couldn’t help but laugh. It was strange that she found herself so amused because she was certain that a superficial explanation of, ‘It was just my rank’, would not satisfy the curious and quite perceptive blonde. “Well, I was a Captain. That was my last rank before I went to the FBI.”

  “In the Army?” Cassidy asked.

  “Yes.”

  “So they called you ‘The Cap’?”

  “Yeah, but not until I got moved to the Pentagon.”

  “You worked at the Pentagon?”

  “Yep… for five years, actually,” Alex explained.

  “I suppose you can’t tell me what you did. Right?” Cassidy raised her eyebrow awaiting the agent’s denial to give more details.

  Alex took a deep breath. “Actually, Cass, there isn’t anything I wouldn’t tell you.” The agent moved to her back and looked to the ceiling. “But you might want to get comfortable.”

  Cassidy was shocked. “Alex…you don’t owe me any…”

  Alex smiled and pulled the woman into her arms. “Well, you might be wrong there. I just hope you won’t… well…”

  “Alex, there is nothing you could tell me that would change us. Not a thing.” Cassidy was as decisive in her statement as the agent had ever heard anyone be. She knew that the teacher’s profession was true. That was part of the reason she wasn’t going to wait for something to force her hand to tell the woman about her past. For tonight it would only be part of one chapter.

  “Well, when I got out of the hospital and John decided to run for senate, I got a call from someone else that had served with us in Iraq, a good friend. Actually, he had been my captain. He was taking a position at the NSA. He asked me to accept a position under him.” Cassidy remained silent, her fingers drawing slow circles on Alex’s chest. “They needed someone who could both profile and who was multi-lingual. Russian and Arabic were crucial.”

  “Alex?”

  “Yeah?” Alex asked.

  “You speak Arabic and Russian?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Anything else?” The teacher inquired.

  “Uhhh… actually yes.” Cassidy tipped her head on the agent’s chest waiting for clarification. Alex sighed. She always felt like divulging her language skills sounded like she
was bragging. It had been easy for her to learn and she didn’t like to feel as though she were showing off. “I can speak and write seven fluently, five others well, if you don’t count English.”

  Cassidy pulled herself up. The English teacher was completely astounded. “You speak SEVEN languages?”

  “It’s not a big deal,” Alex shrugged with embarrassment.

  “Uh…. Alex…I struggle to teach English to most people and they already know HOW to speak it.”

  “Well…it’s a bit unfair really. I have eidetic memory. It came easy for me,” the agent shrugged. Cassidy let out a laugh at Alex’s nonchalant explanation. “What?” Alex asked feeling uncomfortable about her ability.

  “Nothing,” the teacher smiled. “I’m sorry.” She resumed her position and her gentle exploration of the woman next to her. “Go on.”

  “Well, I spent most of my time investigating possible terrorist groups and also some possible leaks within the government. Knowing human behavior and being able to translate actively made uncovering information much faster.”

  “So…Why ‘The Cap’?”

  “Well, my position was technically still military. My clearance was based largely on my rank. I had to deal with a lot of different people as contacts and many didn’t speak English, so I went by ‘The Cap’. It stuck with my co-workers. That’s pretty much all anybody called me, Cap, The Cap or Captain until I went to the FBI.”

  “Wow.”

  “Yeah… Listen Cass,” Alex lowered herself to look at her lover. “Fallon doesn’t know. Actually, no one at the FBI knows, about my background at the NSA. They just know that I worked at the Pentagon in Intelligence for the Army.” Cassidy was silent. “Cass?”

  The teacher looked at the woman lying beside her and considered her response. She kissed Alex on the cheek. “Thank you.”

  “For?”

  “For being honest with me about something you probably aren’t supposed to tell me.”

  The strong agent melted into putty again. “Cassidy, I don’t think there is much point in my trying to keep things from you.”