Intersection Page 31

  Cassidy turned off the car and reached for her bag. She smiled and closed the car door and headed for the house. She opened the front door and got the faint hint of coffee wafting in the air. Could it really be, she wondered? Did Alex come right home? She would be the only person to make coffee in the afternoon. The teacher’s heart skipped as she made her way toward the kitchen, her smile growing by the second. “What are you doing home,” she started to say as she walked through the door. Her bag fell from her hand as she turned. “Oh my God…” she barely whispered.

  “Christ, Fallon…give me a minute…I just left you for God’s….” Alex stopped mid thought as she opened the door.

  “Agent Toles,” the man greeted her.

  Alex’s jaw tightened. “What the hell do you want?” She asked the man standing before her on two crutches.

  “I’d like to talk to you,” Congressman Christopher O’Brien answered.

  “I’m not interested.”

  “It’s about Cassidy,” he said.

  “Like I said…”

  “Agent…please…it’s about Carl Fisher and Cassidy,” he implored.

  “News slow down here or what?” Alex asked. “Fisher is dead.”

  “I’m not so sure,” he said. The agent froze. Alex Toles made her life at reading people and the congressman’s expression was transparent. He was afraid. Alex nodded and he gingerly made his way through the door. She led the congressman to a chair and gestured for him to sit. “Thank you,” he said cordially.

  Alex nodded. “Why would you think Fisher is alive? I saw the apartment.”

  Christopher O’Brien placed his crutches at the side of his chair. “Do you have some water or…”

  The agent sighed heavily. “You want coffee?” She asked taking a moment to remind herself that this was Dylan’s dad.

  “Sure…just black.”

  The agent made her way to the kitchen and called back to him. “So….”

  The congressman looked around a bit and began, “Krause is worried…about what Cassidy might have told you…what she might know…without,” he paused as he noticed the picture on the table and swallowed hard. It was true. He shook his head and continued. “About what she might say without realizing it mattered.”

  Alex entered the room again and saw the congressman’s stare was focused on the picture. He looked at the agent and she could see that there was genuine pain and worry in his eyes. She poked her cheek with her tongue and handed him his coffee. “What could Cassidy possibly say that would matter to Jonathan Krause?”

  “I don’t know,” he answered.

  “That still doesn’t explain Fisher,” Alex said. She studied the man before her, her skepticism evident.

  “Agent Toles…Look, I hated coming here as much as you hate me being here….There is no one else I can trust.”

  Alex raised her eyebrows. “You trust me?”

  “I think you care about my wife and I think she is in danger.”

  The agent had been ready to pounce on the congressman for referring to Cassidy as his ‘wife’ but the last part of his statement stopped her in her tracks. “What do you mean she’s in danger?”

  “Look, Agent Toles,” he looked briefly at the picture again. “I don’t know as much as you think I do. I do know Jonathan Krause and I know a threat when I hear it….If they think she might know anything…Well, let’s just say they’ll find a way to…”

  Alex felt her stomach burning. Fisher’s suicide never set right with her. She stared at the congressman for a moment and then picked up her cell phone. She looked at the time. Cassidy would be home now. She dialed the number and waited.

  “Welcome home,” a hoarse voice greeted the teacher.

  “How the hell did you…”

  “Get in here? Oh… that was easy…Know you like coffee… sit down,” he said.

  “Carl…what do you want?” Cassidy asked fighting to keep her composure and hide the fear that was racking every inch of her.

  He poured a cup of coffee and retrieved the milk from the refrigerator. “I know…just milk,” he smiled. Cassidy watched him carefully. “You’re pretty calm for seeing a ghost,” he said. He leaned into her ear, “BOO!” The teacher’s body shuddered. “Mmmm….” He sniffed her hair. “Oh, thought we could talk for a few minutes…Now that the bitch is gone…and that idiot politician.”

  “Talk about what?” The teacher asked determined to remain in control.

  “Well…We could talk about why you never liked me, or we could talk about why you did like my friend Johnny so much.”

  “What?”

  “Oh….Cassidy….Krause and I go WAY back….you liked him….or was it just France that made him interesting?” Cassidy closed her eyes as he moved within inches of her lips. His breath reeked of whiskey and she felt a powerful wave of nausea begin to overtake her. “Mmm.” He moaned again beginning to get excited about his time alone with the blonde. “So….Johnny or France?”

  Cassidy felt her breath growing shallower. She tried to picture Alex; tried to hear the agent’s voice in her mind. “Neither,” she managed.

  “Really? Poor Johnny… don’t like him either…. Mmm guess we’re not really your TYPE.” He licked his lips and then ran his nose up Cassidy’s neck before sitting next to her. Her bag was buzzing on the floor and her eyes moved to it, desperately wanting to answer. Rose would be home soon with Dylan. How would she warn them? “Leave it,” he commanded. She jumped and his hands grabbed hold of both of her arms tightly. “My turn,” he whispered to her.

  “She’s not answering,” Alex said. She looked at the time again. “Call Rose,” she said to the congressman.

  “What?” He asked.

  “Call her and tell her to take Dylan home with her until I call… Just do it.” The congressman pulled out his cell phone and followed the agent’s direction. Alex was already making another call. “Ferro?”

  “Agent Toles?”

  “I need you to do something,” she said.

  “What?”

  “Find out the dentist on those records for Fisher.”

  “Agent…”

  “Detective, please… I don’t have time… Call me back… It’s Cassidy,” she hung up without giving him a chance to answer and took a deep breath. “God, I hope you are wrong,” she looked at the congressman. She dialed another number. “Fallon?”

  “Alex?”

  “Is Brackett still there?”

  Brian Fallon walked a short distance down the hallway and glanced to his right. “Yeah…why?”

  “I think Fisher is alive.”

  “Toles…”

  “I think he might be at the house.”

  “Why? Wait don’t tell me, a feeling. What do you want me to do?” Fallon asked.

  “Get her out of the building… Find out what she knows about Fisher. If he’s alive….I swear to God, if anything…”

  “Toles… I got it…I’ll call you.”

  Alex pinched the bridge of her nose and looked at the congressman. “What the hell are you into O’Brien?” She shook her head and looked at the picture on the table. She exhaled with force and dialed another number.

  Carl Fisher circled Cassidy breathing in the scent of her hair and smiling. “You should have given me a chance,” he nearly cooed. The teacher bit her bottom lip attempting to quell her increasing fear. What if Dylan came home? Her heart was racing and she was struggling to keep hold of any rational thought. “You’re afraid,” he whispered. “Hummm…. I can smell it.” Fisher moved into the blonde’s face and placed a kiss on her lips. He was ready to continue when the sound of the house phone blared from behind him. “Fuck…. Answer it,” he ordered. Cassidy stood and reached for the phone across the counter when the man grabbed her wrist with great force. “I’m listening… so be careful.” She started to lift it and he whispered, “And I speak French.”

  Cassidy’s body shook as she pressed the button and held the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

  “Cas
s?” Alex’s tone was nearly frantic and Cassidy knew immediately that her lover suspected something.

  “Yeah… how was your trip?” Cassidy tried to stay calm as she felt the heat of Carl Fisher’s stare on her.

  “Cass…is Speed Racer there?” Alex knew the answer but wanted to give Cassidy some time to think if Fisher was there. She wanted to gauge the teacher’s reactions. It was obvious something was wrong. Now the agent wanted to assess how much time she might have to put a plan in place.

  “No. He’s not home yet.” Cassidy tried to listen to Alex’s voice to steady her emotions. She needed to let Alex know Fisher was there, that something was wrong. “Did you get my present?’

  “Yes, I’m looking at it right now and missing you.” Christopher O’Brien noted the tension and emotion in the agent’s voice as she spoke to Cassidy.

  “Did you read my card?” Cassidy asked. She wanted Alex to know that she loved the agent and whatever might happen; that would always be true. The teacher fought her tears. “I meant it.”

  “I know,” Alex sighed. “Cass…”

  “Did you like the picture of the sunset over the mountain on the front?” That was it. Any doubts Alex had were gone. She picked up the card with the picture of the ocean on the rocks and a crystal blue sky. Fisher was there.

  “Mmm… I did. I would rather watch the sunset with you, though,” the agent said feeling a tear well in her eye. “When I get back.”

  “When are you coming home?” Cassidy’s voice began to falter and Fisher grabbed her arm to caution her. The teacher closed her eyes and listened.

  “I’ll be home before you even know I was gone. You just wait for me….Cass…”

  “Je t’adore, Alex.”

  Alex pressed on her temple with her thumb lightly and a tear escaped her eyes. “Chocolate and vanilla….okay?’

  Cassidy managed a slight chuckle as a tear fell down her cheek. “I prefer Vanilla.”

  “I know you do. Cassidy, I love you more than anything… we’ll have that vanilla cake… I promise.”

  “I love you too, Alex. Get home soon,” Fisher took the phone from the woman’s hand and put it on the receiver as Cassidy’s tears flowed freely.

  “Touching,” he said. “My turn.”

  “What the hell is your problem?” Brackett pulled away from Agent Fallon’s grasp.

  “I don’t have time for this, Brackett. Fisher…is he alive or not.”

  “What are you talking about?” The redheaded agent glared defiantly.

  “One chance, Brackett… Don’t test me.” Fallon grabbed the woman’s arm and pulled her to him. “If anything happens to Cassidy I will make it my mission to destroy your career. Do you understand me? And I can promise you that will be nothing compared to what Toles will do.”

  “Why would I know?”

  Brian Fallon tightened his grip on the woman’s arm. His eyes were narrowing to slits and his voice became a haunting echo as he spoke in her ear. “Yes or no.”

  Claire Brackett’s body shivered. John Merrow had warned her about Toles and Fallon, to be careful. Now she realized his caution was warranted. There was more to Fallon than she thought and the tingle of fear running over her caught her attention. “Yes,” she whispered.

  Fallon let go and stood watching her with a fierce stare. He could not speak to her as he pulled out his phone. He pressed the necessary button and managed only three words, “you’d better pray.”

  Congressman Christopher O’Brien watched the tall FBI agent as she lowered her phone and rubbed her face forcefully. “Is he there?” The congressman cautiously asked. Alex felt her body shaking. Her anger and her fear were overwhelming her thoughts and she needed to put both aside if she hoped to help Cassidy. “Agent Toles?” He called to her.

  Alex let out a sigh and looked at the congressman. “I don’t care what you want to do to me, O’Brien...I don’t care what you think of me…but I swear,” she stopped and controlled her words. She shook her head, “yeah… he’s there.”

  “What are you,” before the congressman could finish his question Alex was on the phone.

  “Brady here.”

  “I need your help.”

  “Toles?”

  “I need you to get to Cassidy O’Brien’s….quickly but quietly.” Alex was rummaging through the top of a closet in her hallway.

  “Toles…where are you?”

  “D.C. … Fisher is there with her.”

  “What?” Steven Brady asked in disbelief. “Taylor said he was…”

  “He’s not…. Listen, O’Brien is here with me.”

  Steven Brady was already walking out the door of his office. “How much time?”

  “I don’t know… he’ll want to play,” Alex’s voice dropped an octave as she confronted the likelihood of what Carl Fisher was planning for her lover. “Depends on what you mean for time.”

  “Understood….any idea where they are?”

  “Kitchen or bedroom, that’s where the phones are…betting kitchen…he’ll stay on the lower level…just in case he needs an exit,” Alex said.

  “I’m thirty minutes out, best case scenario. Windows?”

  Alex swallowed hard. Thirty minutes was a long time. A lot could happen in thirty minutes; a lot more than the agent wanted to imagine. “Back yard… sliding glass doors to the deck off the kitchen… small window over the sink…good vantage point is a tree house just to the right…But he’s smart, Brady… if you can get there – then maybe…”

  “Spook the spook,” he said.

  “Maybe.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  “Brady….” Alex need to convey to her friend the urgency of the situation. Fisher would likely view Cassidy as a recreational activity. That could mean almost anything and the thoughts running through Alex’s brain were making her ill.

  “I know,” he answered.

  Alex hung up the phone and loaded the pistol she had pulled from the top of her closet. She attached her holster and put her sidearm in it when the phone buzzed again. “He’s alive,” the voice said.

  “I know. Fallon, he has Cass.”

  “What now?” Fallon asked.

  “Big guns…. I gotta’ go…. Call Ferro…Fill him in…” Alex looked at the congressman. “Where is Krause?”

  “I don’t know,” he said flatly. “Agent Toles, I had no way of knowing…”

  Alex let out a disgusted chuckle. “You play with fire Congressman, you get burned. Those are the odds.”

  “It’s not what you…”

  She turned on her heels and looked at him. “I don’t care what it is. I don’t care why it is. Now, I have to find a way to get Fisher out of that house before he hurts Cassidy.”

  “Maybe if there’s nothing to…”

  “Fisher doesn’t care about what Cassidy knows, O’Brien. He’s obsessed. He doesn’t give a shit about you or Krause. Your jealousy and your selfishness created the perfect opportunity for him. I don’t have time for this. You found your way here; you can find your way out.” The agent grabbed her keys and her wallet, checked her sidearm and walked out the door leaving the congressman alone in her apartment to ponder the picture on the table in front of him.

  “So….you are just full of surprises,” Carl Fisher hissed in the school teacher’s ear. Cassidy closed her eyes and kept picturing Alex. She knew Alex would do everything she could to protect her, but Alex was so far away. Cassidy couldn’t imagine how Alex could do anything. How did she even know that Fisher might be there? “Do I make you….nervous?” Fisher whispered and ran a hand along Cassidy’s leg. She shuddered at the sensation and fought her tears.

  “Yes,” she answered.

  “Oh,” he smiled with satisfaction. “But you like excitement, don’t you? I mean politicians, FBI agents….mmmmm.” His touch became more insistent.

  “Not really,” Cassidy replied growing as angry as she was afraid.

  “Oh….I don’t believe you….Agent Toles has quite a reputation y
ou know.”

  “No, I’m afraid I don’t know,” the teacher said pointedly.

  “Surely,” he breathed in her ear, “you don’t think you are her first? I mean,” he stopped and licked behind her ear before whispering again, “you think she would give it all up for you? Hmmm? Like me…”

  Cassidy swallowed hard and turned to face him with disgust. “Yes, actually I do.” Maybe there was no way out but the teacher was not going to play the willing victim to this sadistic son of a bitch. There was no way if she was going to die here that she would betray who she was and what she felt for Alex.

  Fisher stepped back a pace and ran his fingers over the top of his head in frustration. He turned and grabbed his red duffel bag off the kitchen table. Cassidy took the brief opportunity to survey her familiar surroundings, wondering if she could out run him, but that seemed unlikely. He let out a maniacal laugh as he came face to face with the teacher again and grabbed her. “You think you’re brave?” He laughed harder and pulled her across the room, throwing her into a chair. “We’ll see.” He grabbed the rope from his bag and tied her hands behind the chair, pulling the rope so tightly that Cassidy winced at the burning sensation. “Now what were you saying…about that agent? You think she loves you?” He mocked the woman.

  The teacher looked her assailant squarely in the eyes, a single tear rolling down her cheek. “No.” He smiled with satisfaction at her response and then she continued, “I know she loves me.”

  Fisher became enraged. “ENOUGH talk!” He retrieved a roll of duct tape from his bag and ripped off a large piece. He slapped it over Cassidy’s mouth, pulling her face to look at him as she attempted to turn away. “NOW…I will speak and you will listen...MY TURN.”