Intersection Read online

  Alex started her car as she waited for a voice to answer her call. “Alex?”

  “John, I need your help,” there was a distinct panic in the agent’s voice that John Merrow had never heard.

  “What is it?” The president asked.

  “Fisher is at Cassidy’s.”

  “Alex, that’s…”

  “John… please…”

  The president sighed and swallowed hard. His fears were being realized. Fisher posed an exposure risk. He needed to be removed. If anything happened to Cassidy it would galvanize Agent Toles beyond the resolve he was certain she already had to get to the bottom of the congressman’s dealings. He’d warned Brackett and he had hoped that his call the prior day would have prevented this. It appeared his efforts were too little, too late. Now, he would need to play the game very carefully. “What do you need?” He asked.

  “I don’t have my badge and I don’t have time, John. I need to get there and quickly…and I need to be able to coordinate on the way.”

  “All right. Andrews. I will make the call.”

  “John… I …”

  “Alex… keep your head in the game. Is anyone else there? Dylan? I will call Taylor.”

  “Dylan’s with Cassidy’s mom…Brady’s on his way,” she informed him.

  “Well, we may have closer assets. How long?” The president asked.

  “I spoke to him ten minutes ago…another twenty at least.”

  “Let me go, Captain…I’ll take care of what I can. Expect Captain Abel at Andrews. I’ll make the request…Have Agent Fallon meet you. You will be cleared.”

  Alex tried to concentrate on the road. “Thank you.”

  ***

  “Dammit!” The president yelled into the phone. “I thought this was taken care of.”

  “Where is he?” The voice asked.

  “He’s at the house….and NSA is on the way.”

  “Does he have her?” The man’s voice seemed to tremble slightly.

  “Yes.”

  “How far out is NSA?” The voice inquired.

  “Probably twenty.”

  “I am almost there now…I will be there in ten.”

  “Too little, too late,” the president said.

  “Maybe not,” the man answered.

  “Take him out,” Merrow said definitively.

  “My pleasure.”

  The president grabbed the back of his neck and stretched. “I need him silent. I want her safe…Toles will dig…”

  “I have it,” the man answered.

  The drive to Andrews Air Force Base took less than fifiteen minutes but it seemed like an eternity. Fallon was on his way. The agent had enlisted all the assets she could trust. Now she would have to rely on them to communicate with her. She called Nick and asked him to bring Rose and Dylan to his house until she could get back and knew exactly what was going on. She didn’t suspect that they were in danger, but she wasn’t willing to take any chances. Alex knew that Nick and Barb could help keep Dylan occupied and Rose calm. As she walked toward the plane she pinched the bridge of her nose and spoke to Cassidy in her mind:

  Please, Cass… just sit tight… don’t try to fight him too much. I know you…it’ll just make him want to hurt you more… just wait…hang in there…. Brady, he’ll get there. He will. I’m sorry…I should have seen it…Maybe I just didn’t want to. I should never have left. I felt it…something was off…..I thought it was just leaving…God, Cassidy….I love you ...Please just hang in there.

  “Captain Toles,” Captain Abel greeted, “been too long.”

  Alex forced a smile, “Captain…I assume…”

  “I know what I need to know, Cap. Your friend is already on board. You’ll have full access. If all goes well you’ll be on the ground in just over an hour.”

  “Thank you, Captain.” Alex shook her friend’s hand and boarded the Boeing 757.

  “Toles,” Fallon stood to greet his partner.

  “Fallon,” Alex forced a smile but Fallon could see the stress in his partner’s eyes.

  “She’ll be all right, Alex.”

  Alex nodded and bit her lip. The agent knew Carl Fisher’s type. He was psychotic, sadistic, and worse, he was smart. Her hope was that he was equally cocky and emboldened by what he perceived as her absence. “She has to be,” Alex said. The agent took a deep breath and looked at her phone. Now she had to make the call she dreaded most.

  “Alex?” Fallon inquired.

  Alex looked up, closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. She hit the contact number and put the phone to her ear.

  “Alex?” Rose McCollum was in a state of panic.

  “Rose, calm down, okay?”

  “What is going on? Chris called and…”

  “I know. I asked him to,” Alex explained.

  Rose was now as confused as she was worried. “He said to wait for you… is he there? Alex what is…”

  “Listen to me, Rose…okay? He was with me. I’m on my way back with Agent Fallon. You need keep Dylan there; wait there. I’m going to have my brother pick you both up and take you to his house, all right?”

  “Alex…why? What is going on?”

  The agent leaned her forehead on her hand and tried to breathe. Fallon watched his partner closely. The tension was pouring off of Alex unlike any time he had ever seen. He could feel her fear and her pain as he watched her struggle to maintain her composure. “Rose, Cassidy is in some trouble right now. She’s not alone at the house; do you understand?” The only response was an audible gasp and what Alex was certain were tears. “I need you to try and stay calm, okay? We don’t want Dylan to get scared.”

  “Alex… is she…”

  Alex swallowed hard. “Rose, I don’t know much. I did talk to Cassidy… just for a minute. She was all right, just worried, but she was calm and in control.”

  “But you’re not here…Alex…”

  “I have people on the way. They know how to handle this. Just try and stay calm. I promise I am doing everything I can.”

  “Grandma?” Alex heard Dylan’s voice in the background. She could tell he was becoming afraid at the sight of his grandmother’s emotions.

  “Rose…let me talk to Dylan, all right? Nicky will be there in less than an hour now.” The silence was almost deafening. “Rose…put Dylan on and try to calm down.”

  Rose took a deep breath and smiled down at her grandson. “Alex wants to talk to you,” she handed him the phone.

  “Alex!”

  “Hey…Speed Racer...”

  “When are you coming home?” He asked looking at his grandmother with concern.

  “I’m on my way home now,” she told him.

  “You are?”

  “Yeah…I am,” Alex said quietly.

  “Grandma says I have to stay here. Where’s Mom?”

  Alex rubbed her temple and tried to steady her speech. “Your mom had some things to do this afternoon…You know, big party coming, I hear.”

  “Yeah, my birthday,” he said.

  “I know. Listen, Speed… Uncle Nick’s going to come and take you and Grandma to his house tonight for dinner, okay?”

  “Why?”

  “Well, because your mom and I have to do some things and I thought maybe you’d have fun with Cat. Maybe you can even spend the night….I know you wanted to do that,” Alex offered.

  “But, I have school.”

  Alex took a deep breath, “Yeah. Well, we’ll see what time Mom and I get done, okay?”

  “Alex?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Grandma is crying.”

  “She is, huh? Well, sometimes she worries about all of us, you know? It’s okay.”

  “Alex?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Is Mom okay?”

  Alex covered her mouth and shook her head. Dylan was a perceptive young man and she was certain that between his grandmother’s tears, all the changes and the tension she knew she could not hide in her own voice; he wondered what was wrong.
“Yes. She’s okay, Dylan. I promise.” Alex shook her head in anger. How could she promise him that? She wasn’t even convinced of that and she certainly couldn’t guarantee it. Hearing his voice the agent was determined that somehow she had to insure Cassidy was safe. She was never one to pray, but she thought maybe today was a good day to start.

  “Alex…are you there?”

  “I’m here, Speed. I’ll be home before you know it, okay? I’ll see you at Uncle Nick’s with Mom.”

  “Promise?”

  Alex nodded. “I promise.”

  “I love you, Alex.”

  “I love you, Dylan. Go take care of Grandma, okay? She needs a laugh.”

  “Okay…..Bye, Alex.”

  “See you in while,” Alex hung up the phone and covered her face with her hands. Fallon put his hand on her back. “Fallon, she has to be okay. I can’t tell them… I …”

  “She will be,” Fallon said as they felt the plane lift into the air.

  ‘I’m coming Cass,’ Alex thought silently. ‘Hang in there.’

  onathan Krause pulled the Energy Plus van onto Orchard Drive and turned off the ignition. He retrieved the long, black bag as he slowly closed the door to study his surroundings. Straight ahead was a large blue colonial home. Just beyond it he could make out the side of an equally large white colonial. He cracked his neck and started forward deliberately. He made his way past the blue home and through the side yard with confidence, never removing his attention from the yard just beyond. At the far corner of the yard he stopped and moved behind a line of bushes. He pulled out a small pair of binoculars and looked ahead. A man in a black T-shirt was kneeling. He adjusted the view. Someone was in front him. The man in the T-shirt stood abruptly and kicked a chair. “Cassidy,” Krause whispered as Fisher moved to the right. Jonathan Krause felt his muscles tense. He felt a pulling sensation in his chest and he fought to inhale deeply. “Son of a bitch. I told you to wait.” Krause looked around the yard. He saw the tree house and grabbed the bag. Then he stopped. Another figure was approaching. He pulled out the binoculars again. The man was carefully making his way toward the oak tree that held the platform. “Dammit…NSA is faster than I thought.” He looked around again and back toward the kitchen. “Careless,” he muttered, noting that Fisher was providing a clear line of sight and a clear shot. Cassidy could be a complication. Krause sighed. “God dammit, Cassie…Why did you marry him?” Krause unzipped the bag and started assembling the rifle and scope. He took another deep breath and searched for a new vantage point. Quickly he put the phone to his ear and hit the number. “I’m here…NSA too….yeah…. I got him…she’s okay…. my pleasure.”

  Alex picked up the phone that sat on the desk beside her. “Toles?” The voice asked for confirmation.

  “Brady?” She answered.

  “I’m here…I can see him.”

  “Cassidy….” Alex began to ask.

  “I can’t see from here…he’s pacing,” Brady answered.

  “Do you have a shot?”

  “No, not clear…I need him to move a little…Need to try and see where she is,” he said.

  Alex grabbed either side of her forehead with her left hand, pressing her temples firmly with her fingers. “Brady, can he see you?”

  “No. Well, he hasn’t turned….Just pacing….Toles, I think he’s losing it. I mean he was a spook right? A marksman?”

  “Yeah,” she confirmed.

  “He doesn’t even care that he’s in front of glass.”

  “Yeah, He thinks he’s clear…doesn’t care….He also has her close to him. He’ll use her if he senses anything. Stay out of sight; no shot unless you know.”

  “Toles, I can try another way. He doesn’t appear to be armed.”

  “He is. Trust me. It will take less than a second for him to reach his sidearm. He might be crazy and he might be careless right now but he’s not stupid, Brady. You don’t get where he was by being stupid…Don’t confuse the two...Crazy is much more dangerous when they’re brilliant, careless or not.” Alex thought she heard something in the background and stopped to listen.

  “You’re the profiler,” he said.

  “Smotret’, kuda on dvigayetsya (Watch where he moves),” Alex said in Russian.

  “Kto-to proslushivaniya (Is someone listening)?” He asked.

  “Nikogda ne slishkom ostorozhnykh (Never too cautious). Dayte mne znat’, kogda vyvidite yeye (Let me know when you see her),” Alex answered.

  Christopher O’Brien sat dazed in the chair Alex Toles had given him. The apartment door was still partially open and he put his face in his hands. He took a deep breath and edged forward looking at the card the agent had dropped on the table during her conversation with his ex-wife. He studied the picture that stood just behind it and wondered where it all had gone so wrong. He’d seen the photo. He didn’t know when it was taken. The congressman closed his eyes. He knew he shouldn’t. He had no right. He couldn’t resist the temptation; not after what he had heard; the tall, attractive agent professing her love for the mother of his son. He hesitated momentarily but then he stretched and took the card into his hands. He opened it and he read. The words were eloquent, clearly Cassidy’s. He had forgotten how she once wrote poetry, many years ago. She had never written him anything close to what these words reflected:

  I can’t wait for you to come home. Come home to me and to Dylan. I know you won’t stay away long, but even just a day will find us both missing you. So, take this…I’ve seen you look at it many times in the last days. This way we will be with you, or at least it can remind you that we are waiting for you. Sometimes it is hard for me to tell you what I feel. I am better on paper; perhaps that is the English teacher in me. All I know is that I want to spend my life with you, all of it…

  Je t’adore, my love.

  Cassidy

  The congressman set the card down softly and closed his eyes. This was far from over. If they knew; if they found out he went to Toles. They would find out. What choice did he have? His phone buzzed and he lifted it. “Christopher O’Brien.”

  “You missed our call, Congressman,” the voice said.

  “Chairman…I apologize,” the congressman inhaled and steadied himself. It was show time again. “I seem to still be a bit… well, hazy.”

  “Understandable, Chris. How are you feeling?”

  Christopher O’Brien looked back at the photo and nodded silently. He grabbed his crutches and put them in front of him. “Stronger each day. How would four o’clock work? I will be in my home office by then,” the congressman explained.

  “That’s should be fine, Chris…as long as you are up to it.”

  “Well, I may be moving slower, Congressman…but I am still in the game,” O’Brien offered.

  “Very well…four it is,” the chairman agreed.

  The congressman hung up his phone, placed it in his pocket and braced himself on his crutches. He glanced back at the photo and his lips curled into a small smile. “Still in the game,” he muttered.

  Rose’s phone rang and she answered it without looking. “Alex?”

  “No, Rose.”

  “Chris. What do you want?”

  “I’d like to speak to my son,” the congressman said.

  “He’s upstairs right now getting some things together from his room here.”

  “Rose...”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea, Chris.”

  “He’s my son, Rose.”

  “Yes…well, I suppose he is that,” Rose agreed.

  “Is he all right? Where are you?” The congressman inquired. “What does he know?”

  Rose McCollum licked her lips and attempted to quiet the anger that was festering within her. “He’s fine. Alex spoke with him a while ago,” the woman said with some satisfaction.

  “I see. Alex spoke with him,” his disgust was apparent.

  “That’s what I said.”

  “Well, I would like to speak with him now.”

  Rose too
k a deep breath and called her grandson. Dylan ran down the stairs. “Is it Mom?” Rose looked at him and shook her head slightly. “Is it Alex?”

  “No, honey, it’s your father.”

  Dylan frowned. He was very angry with his father. They had only spoken twice since the congressman came home from the hospital and both times the congressman had cut the conversation short when Cheryl had called to him. Then, Dylan heard his mother telling his grandmother about Alex leaving. Now, Alex was gone and Dylan knew with all these calls something was wrong. He reluctantly took the phone and put it to his ear. “Hey buddy,” the congressman said gently. Dylan said nothing. “What’s wrong, buddy?”

  “Where’s Mom?” Dylan asked.

  The congressman cleared his throat. “I’m not sure, Dylan… I think she had some…”

  “You know,” Dylan said plainly.

  “Dylan…I don’t know,” his father said.

  “Are you coming to my party?” The boy changed the subject abruptly.

  “What?”

  “My birthday party?”

  “Dylan, I have a lot of calls this week. I have to catch up. I will call you on….”

  The doorbell rang in the distance and Dylan turned to see his grandmother opening the door for Nick. “It’s okay. I know you’re busy. Alex is on her way home,” Dylan said to his father.

  “Listen, Dylan, you and I will do something…”

  Dylan interrupted his father’s thought. “I have to go. Uncle Nick is here,” he handed the phone to his grandmother. As soon as she accepted it he ran and collapsed into Nick. At six, all of the adults’ stress was overloading him and as soon as he saw the strong man that looked so much like his hero he started crying.

  Rose took the phone. “Who is Uncle Nick?” The congressman asked sharply.

  Rose walked quietly into her kitchen, away from small ears and took a deep breath. “Chris, I always thought you loved Cassie, even when things were bad, even when you were screwing half your aides; I still thought you loved her.”

  “Wait a minute,” he began to mount his defense.

  “No. You wait a minute, Congressman. I have no idea what you have to do with what is happening to Cassidy but I know you have everything to do with why Dylan is crying and the fact that Alex is not here to take care of them both.”