Countermeasure (17 page)

Cassandra glanced at her watch anxiously, waiting for Bauer to come out. Her heart pounded in her chest and for a split second she wondered if her anxiety was solely related to the case. Not wanting to look too closely into her feelings, she got out of the car, leaned back against it and tried to enjoy the bright sunshine warming her skin.

****

Trevor stepped outside and took a deep breath of the fresh morning air. His plan for the day was to work off some energy in the pool before heading to work. Walking down the few steps to street level, Trevor noticed a woman leaning against a parked car in front of his house. There was something familiar about her.

The woman’s brownish-gold hair was tied in a ponytail, her leather jacket and the blue top underneath it barely touched the waistband of her low-cut jeans, leaving a strip of golden skin peeking through. She had her face upturned toward the sun’s warm touch.

As he drew closer, she turned her head toward him and his breath stopped in his lungs. Even with her relaxed appearance—far more relaxed than the day before—and the large stunners shading her eyes, he recognized her immediately. Cassandra James. The last person he ever expected to see again, much less outside his house. Hiding his perplexity at her presence, he approached her.

“What an unpleasant surprise,” Trevor drawled sarcastically, unsure where his antagonistic words were coming from, as he secretly enjoyed seeing her there. “Are you lost? What brought you to this
a amadáin
’s doorstep?” Pinning her with hard, narrowed eyes, he added, “More importantly, how the hell did you find me?”

Bauer’s hostile reaction to finding
her outside his house raked across Cassandra’s already frayed nerves. She pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head, crossed her arms in front of her, and checked him out. Bauer was dressed pretty much as he had been the day before, but this time he was sporting a t-shirt with a barcode print and “GEEK” spelled underneath. The proud statement fit him so well, but, although funny, Cassandra kept her chuckle to herself. She needed his help and didn’t want to start the conversation laughing at him for his geeky sense of humor.

To break the ice, she replied with a question of her own: “Got a driver’s license?”

At first, Trevor didn’t get what she meant, and then it dawned on him: she had accessed the DMV and pulled his license. “Meh, any teenager with moderate skills can access that information.”

Cassandra eyed him and smirked, “Yeah, but it’s leaving you wondering about what other little juicy nuggets I was able to find on you. Amazing, no? How much info can be found on the internet? One click and someone’s whole life becomes an open book.”

Her comment, so similar to his own thoughts the night before, startled him. A simple coincidence? Still curious, he leaned down to look inside the car and found it empty, “Where’s Bruce Banner?”

“Who?” Cassandra asked automatically, and then burst out laughing when she clued in to his reference to the scientist who morphed into the Hulk. “Wow! Snarky in the morning, aren’t you? What? No coffee? Oh wait—that would be an energy drink, right?” Gesturing toward his house, she continued in a joking tone, “Do I need to get you one? Or maybe a few minutes in time-out will teach you to play nice.”

“Who are you, and where is that mad woman who accosted me yesterday?” Trevor retorted humorously, strangely relaxed in her presence, even with the big question of what she was doing at his doorstep still hanging in the air.

“Oh, don’t worry,” she said, pointing to her chest with her thumb. “She is alive and kicking deep inside and can jump out at any moment.”

“I have no doubts about that.” The remark brought Trevor back to reality. She was the same woman from yesterday, so her being at his place was for more than just to shoot the breeze. He glanced at his watch. “I only have a few minutes, so give: what brings you here?”

Cassandra’s smile faded a bit as she asked, “Can we talk inside? The roads were fairly clear. I got here faster than I expected and I’ve been waiting a while for you to come out.” A blush flooded her cheeks. “Also, I really need to use the bathroom. Do you mind?”

Her request was so totally unexpected he could only stare at her. It was when Trevor noticed her fidget that an invisible hand slapped him upside the head, snapping him out of his stupor. Immediately he turned back toward the house and spoke over his shoulder, “Uh, yeah, sure. Follow me.”

Once inside, Trevor pointed in the direction of the bathroom. “It’s down the hall, to the left.”

“Thank you,” Cassandra breathed out, heading off down the hall. Trevor’s eyes were drawn to the curves outlined by her jeans and his blood heated as he appreciated the view. Once she was out of sight, he leaned against the back of the couch to wait for her while thoughts about her reason for being there careened around in his head.

Cassandra was about to burst. The coffee, drive, and long wait had taken their toll; she would have sworn that her brown eyes had turned green. Bauer’s townhouse was a surprise—not what she expected for a computer geek. It was tidy and tastefully decorated—contemporary furnishings with clean lines and masculine colors, definitely male territory. The forty-six-inch flat-screen TV, XBOX and PS3 gaming units, and two controllers for each on the coffee table were a clear sign that he enjoyed his gaming nights with company.

Cassandra walked past an open door and glanced in. It appeared to be a home office with its two desktop computers, each hooked to two flat-screen monitors and several docking stations. Again, she noticed the two of everything and her heart stuttered in her chest as she drew her conclusions from the clues around her.
Roommate? Partner?

Reaching the bathroom, Cassandra tried to understand why the thought of a partner had given her pause. She was there purely on business—she needed his skills and resources; that was it. While she washed her hands, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and asserted to herself
, All in the spirit of business
.

Exiting the bathroom, she wished she had the time and opportunity to run upstairs and rummage through his things in search of more clues about the man behind the NSA employee—the man she would be counting on for the success of her mission.

A few hours earlier, Trevor had been sure he would never see Cassandra James again, yet there she was, using his bathroom as if they were longtime acquaintances. Trevor was stumped as the saying
third time’s a charm
popped up in his head. She had crossed his path two times before and, on each occasion, had brought myriad emotions to the surface.

First, the intercepted message that prompted him to get involved in the case and eventually caught by her; then her appearance at his place of work, knocking him off his feet and leaving him wondering and dreaming about her, wishing he had the chance to get to know her; and lastly, her showing up at his house sporting a fairly friendly attitude, behaving like the day before had never happened.

His spidey senses were going haywire. If that wasn’t a sign, he didn’t know what was. He was never one to put stock in coincidences—as far as he was concerned, everything happened for a reason. He considered the need to pay more attention to what was unfolding before him.

Hearing the bathroom door open and her footsteps on the hardwood floor down the hall, Trevor stilled his thoughts. He really wanted to hear her explanation as to why she was here in his house and not on a plane halfway to California. Watching her walking toward him, a stirring of desire filled him. Something far deeper than a simple infatuation pulled at him, tethered him.

During his teenage years, before moving to the States, Trevor had observed his parents together and many times compared them to his friends’ parents. His memories of that time surfaced images of a couple sure of themselves and their relationship. They had respected each other, always talked through their differences, and had truly enjoyed each other’s company.

More images of them flooded Trevor’s mind and he recalled the times he had caught his parents hugging, kissing, or just relaxing in each other’s arms. Whenever he had stumbled upon them, he would leave them alone as fast as he could—reacting like any teenager would, mumbling gross under his breath.

But now, as an adult, he clung to those memories like life preservers. Little buoys keeping the impressions of his parents’ lives afloat. They reassured him that he, too, could eventually have the same respect and love for and from a partner.

In that moment, something clicked in his mind. He knew that he couldn’t let this opportunity slip away. Even though he believed it wasn’t fair to saddle a woman with his baggage, he needed to find out if there was something more between him and Cassandra James.

The strange familiarity, comfortable conversation even under stress, and the electricity in her touch were things he couldn’t forget or ignore. Could this have been what it was like for his parents when they met? A pang of sadness hit him; if his father was still around, he would have been on the phone with Trevor, giving him fatherly advice on how to handle the situation.

Kicking that thought to the side, he realized that Cassandra was standing beside him and had asked him a question. “I’m sorry, I missed what you said.”

“I asked if you were okay.” She must have seen a flash of sadness cloud his eyes.

“Yes. Just a memory.”

Cassandra appeared to be waiting for him to elaborate, but since he didn’t, she glanced around the room. “Can we sit and talk for a minute?”

With a sweep of his hand, Trevor gestured toward the couch. “Yes, sure. Please, have a seat.”

Cassandra took a seat on the chair instead of the couch he had indicated, reminding him of his own reaction the day before when she had implied where he should sit. Trevor sat on the arm of the chair across from her.

“Great set up,” she complimented, breaking the awkward silence.

He kept his eyes trained on her, afraid that anything he might say would make her bolt out the door like a deer.

 When he just nodded at her, she continued, “Sorry to have dropped by without a warning. Please pass on my apologies to your roommate as well.”

A frown furrowed Trevor’s brow at the thought that she might have investigated him more thoroughly than he thought. “Roommate? What gave you that idea?

“Well, two controllers, two computers, two monitors…I just assumed.”

“Ah.” Trevor breathed a sigh of relief, realizing she didn’t really know much about his life, his secrets. “He’s not home. Nothing to apologize for.”

 “Oh, a male roommate. Boyfriend?”

“Bloody hell! No!” He exclaimed. “What made you think that? Not that there’s anything wrong with that choice in general, but I can assure you I don’t bat for the other team.”

He looked so indignant, Cassandra almost laughed. She didn’t quite understand her own line of questioning when she was convinced she had no interest in him besides the fact that she needed his help. It wasn’t any of her business whether or not he had a roommate or life partner, but, for some reason, hearing he was single relieved her, which, in itself, weirded her out even more.

She needed a relationship as much as she needed a bullet to the head. She had lived with the repercussions of her mother’s passing and the destruction it had left in its wake, numbing her father to anything but his own pain and loss. Robert had ignored the fact that, while he had lost his wife, she had also lost her mother, her role model, the one who would have wiped her tears and who would have helped mold her into a woman. Instead, she had been left with blurred memories of her mother and a reeling father who couldn’t bear to look at her without hurt flooding his eyes.

She didn’t want to feel that way, ever, in her life. Maybe she should consider marrying Nathan after all. At least with him, she would know for sure her heart was safe from such destruction.

For the umpteenth time, Trevor wanted answers to why she was there, but she had distracted him with her curiosity about his sex life, and it nagged at him. Since she had left a door open for more personal questions, he couldn’t help but ask, “Okay, since you’ve butted into my personal life, what about you? Also, you never answered where your Mr. Nelson was.”

 “He’s not ‘my’ Mr. Nelson, and he’s on his way back to Virginia as we speak,” she responded curtly.

“And?”

“And what? I told you yesterday. Nate is a good friend who was helping me out.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t say which team you were on.”

“Touché, Bauer.” Without giving him the answer he was expecting, her tone took on a business-like quality. “Okay…enough with the chit-chat. You mentioned you don’t have much time and I have a flight to catch in a few hours.”

Her mention of a flight brought home the fact that, regardless of what was happening at that moment, as surreal as it might be, she would still be disappearing from his life, eliminating his chance to examine more closely the strange pull between them. “So, cut to the chase. Why are you here?”

Cassandra studied him as she searched for the right words to convince him to help her.
Just ask, Cassandra. All he can say is no.
“I need you.”At his look of surprise she quickly added, “I mean, I don’t
need
you,
need
you, but I need your help.”