Intersection Page 23

  “You all right, there?” Cassidy asked the agent who responded with a forced smile. The teacher gave the agent a kiss on the cheek. “Alex, if you’re going to be here, he’s going to see us.”

  “I know. Let’s go get that pizza,” the agent said, thankful for a diversion if only for a while.

  “Alex…Come on,” Dylan pulled on the agent.

  Cassidy tried to hide her amusement. “Only if your mother agrees to challenge us,” she encouraged Cassidy.

  “A little confident?” Cassidy quipped. Alex lifted her hands as if to say ‘Bring it on’. “Okay,” the teacher whispered in Alex’s ear. “I’ll bet you back rubs for a week I win.”

  Alex was surprised at Cassidy’s competitiveness. “You are on,” the agent winked. The teacher laughed as she climbed into the seat of the truck cab. Alex leaned over into the teacher’s ear and teased, “I hope you’re not a sore loser.”

  Cassidy tilted her head back and softly gave her reply. “You’re not a very good gambler, Alex. Either way I win.” She turned back to the game leaving Alex with a lump in her throat and a tingle down her spine. Cassidy surprised Alex at every turn and the agent loved it. The small blonde woman jostled herself into position and concentrated on the screen, or rather the road, in front of her. She turned and weaved through obstacles, over hills, along steep curves, slowing down here and there and then speeding up her virtual car again.

  Dylan looked at the agent in amazement and then back at the screen. “MOM!” Cassidy swerved and avoided a collision. “You’re at level 38! Alex!” Dylan was almost as wide eyed as the agent. “She’s gonna’ beat us, Alex.”

  “Nah… just wait. Here comes the tough level,” Alex assured him.

  Three more levels passed before Cassidy finally wiped out over a virtual guard rail. The small blonde woman got up and shrugged. “Level 41!” Dylan said excitedly, quite proud of his mother, who greeted his enthusiasm with a wide grin and a hug.

  “All right,” Alex lifted Dylan to the front of the cab and onto her lap. “Your mom’s been holding out on me,” she whispered.

  “I heard that,” Cassidy cracked back.

  “Figures,” Alex tried to whisper softly.

  “And that,” Cassidy said.

  Alex Toles was naturally competitive and she did not want to lose this bet although she had to admit the idea of owing Cassidy back rubs for a week was not a punishment by any measure. She bit her lip and her heart quickened at the reality of the wager the woman she loved had levied. Another reason to love Cassidy, she was smart. There was no loser in this bet-except the agent’s pride if she somehow lost to the teacher. “Okay, Dylan,” Alex put her feet on the pedals and her hands over the small ones gripping the wheel. “Let’s show your mom who is king of the road!”

  Cassidy watched the agent and her son, caring very little about who won any bet. The sight of her son in Alex’s lap, the sound of his laughter and Alex’s enthusiastic but gentle encouragement made her heart soar. She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen Dylan so happy. She thought to herself, ‘Can this be real?’ Her daydreaming was abruptly ended by the buzzing of her phone. “Hello,” she put a finger in her opposite ear trying to hear over the sounds of the game accompanied by the agent and Dylan’s exclamations as they dodged cars and rocks and turned and skidded across pretend pavement. “No…I’m at George’s with Dylan…What? Hold on,” Cassidy stepped out of the cab and into the restaurant. Engrossed in the game and the small boy bouncing on her lap, Alex didn’t realize immediately that the teacher was gone.

  “What?” Cassidy asked.

  “What the hell is going on there?” The voice on the other end boomed.

  “What are you talking about?” Cassidy asked pointedly.

  “When did you start sleeping with women?” He asked. Cassidy cocked her jaw in disgust but did not respond. Now she understood what Alex had been worried about. “Well? When did you start sleeping with her?”

  “My life is none of your business, Christopher. You gave up the right to ask questions a long time ago.”

  “You divorced me,” he shot back at his ex-wife.

  “Well, thanks for reminding me why,” the teacher responded in kind, now walking out the front door of the restaurant for some privacy.

  “What do you want to ruin me or something? What about Dylan? Is she there now?”

  Cassidy let out a sarcastic chuckle. “You can ruin yourself all by yourself, Chris. You don’t need my help. As for Dylan, he is happier than I have ever seen him. And as for my relationship with Alex? I don’t ask you about your girlfriends; in fact I never did; so you can extend me that same courtesy.”

  “Relationship?” He yelled. “Do you know anything about this woman, Cassidy, at all?” Cassidy pursed her lips as her anger burned hotter by the moment. “If you think I am going to let you…”

  “Let me? Let me, what, Chris? This isn’t about me and it’s not about Dylan; it’s about you, your image. Let me say this so you understand. That is not my problem.”

  “Cassidy, I am warning you…”

  “You know, that may work with your little minions in Washington, not with me. This conversation is over,” Cassidy hung up the phone as the congressman attempted to continue his admonishment of her. She exhaled audibly and tried to steady her nerves, the fury within her powerful.

  “Hah! Level 39! Cass, you’re…” Alex glanced to the side but she did not see Cassidy. Through the side window she caught sight of the small blonde woman walking back through the front door. Cassidy smiled and shook the hand of an older woman before continuing back through the restaurant. Alex could tell she was angry. She’d seen that look earlier in the day.

  “ALEX!” Dylan exclaimed. Alex’s momentary distraction had caused a virtual collision with an oncoming truck. “AWWW!” Dylan sighed as Cassidy walked back through the opening to the truck cab. “You won Mom!” He said with more pride than disappointment.

  “Did I?” Cassidy smiled at her son. Alex lifted Dylan off her lap and looked at the teacher with concern in her eyes. Cassidy tightened her lips, acknowledging in her glance that, yes, she was upset about something. The teacher had no intention of spoiling her son’s night. She looked at him and smiled genuinely. “Well, as the queen of the road, I say we get some ice cream to celebrate.” She turned and looked at the agent for support.

  “Okay. You are the queen of the road, after all.” Alex looked at Dylan, “ice cream it is.” She caught Cassidy as they made their way back to the table. “Are you okay?”

  The teacher clasped the agent’s hand. “Later,” she said.

  Alex’s heart dropped. She had a strong feeling she knew what had happened. “Cass?”

  Cassidy turned back and saw the fear in the agent’s eyes. She grasped Alex’s hand again and smiled. “You’re not getting out of those back rubs that easy, Alfred.” Alex smiled. She was not looking forward to this conversation. One thing was clear, Cassidy loved her and Alex was certain that the only person who could ruin that was Alex.

  Cassidy came out of the bathroom wearing a pair of jogging pants and a tank top. Alex wished this evening could have a different agenda. The more she was around Cassidy, the more intoxicating she found her. Cassidy was a beautiful woman to be sure. The simple moments, watching Cassidy cook, watching her brush her hair, when she put Dylan’s jacket on, when she walked out of the bathroom still brushing her teeth, Alex thought those were the moments that she loved the woman the most. And, there was scarcely a moment she did not long to be closer to her, even just to feel Cassidy sleeping in her arms. Right now they needed to talk. The teacher sat down on the end of the bed and looked at the agent who was sitting on the arm of a large chair across the room, nervously waiting. “So, Chris called while we were at George’s,” Cassidy offered. Alex sighed and rubbed her face. “He knows.” Alex nodded again. “I don’t know how he knows.”

  “I do,” Alex said. Cassidy looked up to the agent. “Brackett.”

  “Agent Brackett
?” Cassidy asked with surprise, “Why….”

  Alex took a deep breath and released it. She walked to the bed and sat beside Cassidy. “Brackett is a DCIS agent.” Cassidy looked at the agent with confusion. “Department of Defense, she works for the DOD.”

  “She’s an FBI agent,” Cassidy questioned.

  Alex sighed again. “No, but she’s working in the FBI. I thought she was NSA; that’s where I went this afternoon.”

  “Why would Brackett tell Chris about us?”

  Alex stood and began pacing. “Me…Look Cass, they’re going to pull me back to D.C. and off the case. He’ll make sure of that; that’s why.”

  “They can’t do that.”

  “Yes, they can and they will. I violated my duty and I compromised this case.”

  “Because of me?” Cassidy said with both hurt and guilt in her voice.

  “Cass, listen to me, that’s what is going to happen. I need you to just trust me. This case is bigger… Krause...”

  “What is it about Jon, Alex?” The agent continued pacing. She was trying to choose all of her words carefully. She was worried about Cassidy and what might happen when she got pulled off the case. Fisher was a loose cannon which worried the agent. Alex also wasn’t certain what she would do when she was called to pay the piper and she knew Cassidy would not want her to quit the bureau.

  “Alex?” Cassidy called, “you are making me dizzy.”

  The agent couldn’t help but chuckle. Cassidy was tougher that she gave the teacher credit for. She made her way back to the bed and sat beside her lover. “Krause is CIA.’”

  Cassidy closed her eyes tightly and rubbed them with both hands. “What?”

  “There’s more. Cass, look, there’s good reason to think Jon Krause is involved in international arms sales.”

  “You mean like guns?”

  Alex pressed her tongue to her cheek and placed her right thumb on her temple. “No. I mean like missiles.” Cassidy stared blankly at the agent as Alex continued. The agent couldn’t control her need to move and began milling about the room again as she spoke. “Look… Cassidy, for quite a few years the NSA has been watching Krause and a few others. They have a high level of access to information… and,” the agent hesitated.

  “What, Alex?”

  “There’ve been instances of money filtered through political campaigns, PAC money specifically, rerouted to foreign banks. There’s been some evidence of trades, hard to track… Croatia, Ecuador, even Iraq. We were never able to determine if it was actual parts or only the technology, fringe groups or governments or both - but the campaign piece, that was certain.”

  Cassidy sat with her face in her hands. “Alex, Jon worked for Technologie Appliquée in France. I just remembered that this afternoon.” Alex knelt in front of the teacher. “What does any of this have to do with me, with Carl Fisher?” Cassidy asked, the anxiety evident in her expression.

  Alex took Cassidy’s hands. “It wasn’t supposed to have anything to do with you, I don’t think. The letters were a diversion to try to press the congressman off of something, or into something. They set a good precedent in case they needed to act. They provided a cover. Fisher was a bad call. Now you’re stuck in it.”

  Cassidy searched the agents’ eyes. “Alex, did they really try to kill Chris?”

  “I think so, yes.”

  “And me?”

  “Krause is no threat to you. I am the threat to whatever is going on. That’s why Brackett played the card she did. Fallon and Taylor, they’ll handle Fisher. You’ll be safe, Cass, I promise you.”

  “Are you going to get fired?”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  Cassidy was beginning to tremble. “Alex…”

  “He’s a congressman Cassidy; that’s how the game is played. I have friends too. Best case scenario they suspend me.” Cassidy covered her face and then looked to the ceiling. A few hours ago they were laughing and now she felt as though she were in the middle of a spy novel. “Cass, look at me, please?” Cassidy shook her head still looking at the ceiling and trying to determine what she felt. “Please?” Alex implored her lover.

  Green eyes that were beginning to overflow looked at the agent. “I’m sorry, Alex.”

  “What are you talking about?” Alex said softly.

  “My crazy life…. Now you are in the middle of it… and…”

  Alex smiled and took a deep breath releasing it slowly. “You,” the agent hesitated briefly, realizing the gravity in what she was about to say. She took another breath. It was hard to fathom, but Cassidy needed to know how Alex felt and Alex needed to say it. “You ARE my life, Cassidy. It doesn’t matter, as long as you are safe and Dylan is safe.”

  Cassidy stroked the agent’s cheek, “Alex, I can’t believe that he’d…”

  “I know,” Alex said. “Cass, we don’t know what your ex-husband is really into.”

  “Why did they put you here if…” Cassidy began to muse.

  “I imagine to track Fisher, get rid of their problem for them. Three things they didn’t count on.” Cassidy looked at the agent inquisitively. “Brackett knows Fisher intimately, Fisher’s a screwball,” Alex paused to search her lover’s eyes.

  “And?” Cassidy urged her to continue.

  “And I fell in love with you.”

  The smaller woman took the agent’s face in her hands. “Make it four. I fell in love with you,” she said searching the blue eyes before her.

  Alex smiled and kissed the woman. She climbed onto the bed and pulled Cassidy into her arms. “It will be okay, Cass.”

  “I know it will,” Cassidy answered running her hand over the strong woman who held her close. “I don’t want you to go, Alex.”

  Alex inhaled her lover’s words. “Let’s just see what tomorrow brings.”

  “Alex?”

  “What?”

  “Promise me you will be back,” Cassidy said with some fear.

  “Cassidy, there is nothing that could keep me from you, nothing.” The smaller woman held onto the agent tightly. Cassidy knew that was true, but she wanted Alex close now. They lay in silence for a long time, awake but needing to process all of their emotions. After a while, Alex looked down and kissed Cassidy’s head. “Cass?”

  “Hum?”

  “Where did you learn to drive like that?”

  Cassidy giggled. Even in the middle of all this uncertainty and unimaginable drama, Alex was thinking about that video game. “I was sick for a full month when I was pregnant with Dylan. I couldn’t move from the couch most days. Play Station was my companion, well that and a bucket.”

  Alex laughed. “I see.”

  “Not as interesting as you thought, huh?” Cassidy chuckled.

  “Actually, I think it’s the most interesting fact I discovered all night.” Alex’s endearing comment might have seemed patronizing were it not the truth.

  “Well, I’m no spy,” Cassidy said.

  “Cass, you could disarm James Bond. Don’t sell yourself short.” Cassidy closed her eyes and sighed into her lover’s chest. “Je ne pourrai jamais te laisser partir. (I will never let you go).” The agent said with a light kiss to her lover’s head.

  Cassidy’s reply filled Alex’s heart. She could scarcely believe the depth of the love she felt for the woman in her arms. “That’s good,” Cassidy began, “you owe me some back rubs.”

  lex watched as Cassidy moved to the stove and started breakfast. The agent was anxious for Brian Fallon’s arrival. At the same time she was trying to prepare herself for the inevitable call that the congressman’s new found information was certain to bring. She had no idea when it would come, only that it would. The agent loved watching Cassidy when she was doing these types of things. She felt a sense of home that she couldn’t explain in words. In a short time the pair had become quite comfortable in the everyday activities of life together. They just fit. She moved behind the small woman who was mixing ingredients in a bowl and kissed her on the cheek. “What�
��s that for?” Cassidy asked.

  Right now Alex was wishing there was no case, no congressman and no FBI. She knew they would have to part, at least for a while, and the thought of being away from the woman she loved, particularly now, distressed her. “I just love you,” Alex said sweetly.

  Cassidy looked at her, twisting her face. “Are you all right?” She joked. Alex set down her cup and pulled the woman closer. Her heart was sinking for some reason. She just wanted to hold on. “Alex?” Alex bent over and kissed Cassidy softly. The teacher fought to regain her breath as Alex pulled away. “Good morning,” Cassidy sighed. The sound of the doorbell interrupted the moment. “That’s probably Brian,” Cassidy said, suggesting with her voice that Alex should answer.

  “Probably,” Alex said continuing to search the green eyes before her and making no motion to leave the moment.

  “Alex?”

  “Hmmm?”

  “The door?” Cassidy raised an eyebrow.

  “He’ll wait,” the agent kissed the teacher again. The small blonde woman in the agent’s arms opened her eyes to the sound of the doorbell again. She looked at Alex and smiled. “I just wanted you to know,” the agent said as her phone began to buzz.

  “I do,” Cassidy touched her lover’s cheek.

  Alex took a deep breath and picked up the phone. “Yeah, I’m coming already.” Cassidy shook her head and laughed. She knew what was to come and she didn’t want to think about it. She’d spent most of the night thinking about reality. She couldn’t remember when Alex hadn’t been in her life. It all seemed like a dream; her past. Waking up and feeling Alex next to her, watching as the agent dressed in the morning, the way Dylan looked for Alex as soon as he woke up; there were so many moments now that she wished she could freeze and exist in forever. She hated the idea of Alex being away. She’d just found her, after all.

  “What took you so long?” Fallon asked. Alex just smiled. “Oh.”

  Alex led her partner toward the kitchen. “Hi, Mr. Fallon,” a small voice called from in front of the television.