Countermeasure (21 page)

Cassandra’s heart raced and a rush of adrenaline flowed through her veins. She perked up. “Paris? She’s in Paris? What’s she doing there?”

“No fishing. I’ll give you the details when we’re there. I’ll book our flights tonight. Are you okay with business class?”

“Stop. Hold it right there. I said you can come. I didn’t say anything about you paying for my flight. Give me the details. I’ll make my
own
arrangements.”

After a pause, Trevor’s voice came over the line. “Okay, Cassandra. I’ll send you what you need via email.”

“I’ll send you my itinerary when I have it. Just make sure you get there around the same freaking time. There’s no way in
hell
I’m sitting around waiting on your ass to show up. I’ll let you know when my reservation is made. I’ll book the earliest flight possible; the faster we get there, the better.”

“Aye-aye, Captain. Be there same time. Noted. Oh, and Cassandra, don’t worry, this should be a hell of a ride.”

She rolled her eyes. “Just be there,” she muttered before disconnecting the call.

Finally, she had the lead she needed—Paris—but never imagined she would be saddled with a green partner for the duration of that job.

Partner!
“Oh, shit! Nathan!” She had never returned his call. “Well, better late than never,” she murmured as she dialed his number, already reciting in her head how she planned to lay the cards on the table.
Either he accepts that we are only friends or we’ll have to part ways for good.
She braced herself for what was to come.

The flight from San Francisco
to Washington, DC was uneventful. Cassandra had shut her mind to thoughts of Bauer and used the time on board to go through the files one more time. As she waited to take the next leg of the flight to Paris, she stretched in the boarding area to loosen up a bit—the cramped seating on the flight over had left her feeling like a human pretzel. Checking her watch, she calculated that she had another two hours to kill—plenty of time to grab a bite before her evening flight—and headed in the direction of the food court.

****

Trevor arrived at the airport a few hours in advance, hoping to spend some time with Cassandra prior to departure. She had sent him her itinerary and, being the good boy he was, he had followed her directions to a tee. What she didn’t know was he had taken it one step further. He had booked a seat on the same flight out of Dulles, the second leg of her trip.

He had searched for Cassandra but hadn’t found her. Dread had filled him, thinking she had possibly changed to an earlier flight. But his logical side had grounded him, reminding him of her insistence that they arrive around the same time. With time to kill, he was hanging out in the Business Class lounge.

He grinned at the memory of her reaction to his demand. He could almost see her sputtering in rage. As that image filled his mind, he heard the announcement advising boarding was about to begin. He grabbed his laptop bag and proceeded to the gate.

****

Cassandra arrived back in the boarding area and was surprised at how full it had become. Searching, she found an empty chair facing the boarding gate and quickly claimed it.

As she waited, her mind wandered and a vision of Bauer’s wicked grin—the one he had worn as she had driven away from his house—teased her again. She had wondered at that grin countless times over the last few days.
What was he thinking? Did it involve her? What the heck am
I
thinking?

Purposefully, Cassandra directed her thoughts to Paris and hoped Bauer’s plane would arrive on schedule. She had no details regarding the hotel he’d booked, other than that it was in the ballpark of her price range. She would be miffed if his flight was late and she had to camp out in the airport, waiting on him.

Cassandra remembered her embarrassment when she had asked him to pick something a little on the economical side. She didn’t disclose that she would be bankrolling the trip on her own and needed to be as frugal as possible while in Paris. Paris. She had never been there before and a tiny part of her looked forward to the change in scenery. The other part, the bigger part, was giving her a stomachache. She was worried about the reason for Bauer’s request—more like demand—to join her, and speculated on how their close proximity would affect them during their time in France.

It didn’t help matters that Nathan had put thoughts in her head. In Nathan’s eyes, Bauer was an opportunist, only interested in getting in her pants, and she was stupid to be taken in by him. The conversation they’d had the night before played over in her mind.

“Hey, Nathan,”
she’d greeted him casually.

“Cass! What the hell took you so long to call me back? You’ve been home for days.”

“Sorry. I was caught up in some work.”
She had avoided going into detail.

“So, did you get my message?”
Nathan had asked, followed by an eager,
“When are you free to come out? You can stay at my place when you get here.”

With a sigh, Cassandra had chosen her words carefully.
“Nathan. I’m not coming. Something has come up, a lead on the case. I am heading to Paris to see if I can track Allison down.”

“Paris? What the hell, Cass?! You are no longer on the case. You told me your dad sent you home for a few weeks. Let it go. Come visit me.”
Nathan had paused.
“Hold on a second.”
After a second pause, he had asked in a low, controlled voice,
“How do you know she’s in Paris?”

Cassandra had grown quiet, searching for the words she wanted to use.

“Cass?”
Nathan had pushed;
“How do you know?”

“Just hear me out, okay?”
Cassandra had pleaded.
“I went back and talked to Bauer. I explained everything to him and he agreed to help me. He was able to trace a call Allison made to…”

Before she had been able to finish, Nathan spoke over her,
“What the hell do you mean you went back?! We were at the airport! You saw me off!”

Cassandra had tried to keep her cool.
“I know. I was boarding when the idea hit me, so I left the airport and caught up with him at his house.”

“Shit! His house?! His house??!”
Nathan had yelled in her ear;
“Cass, I already told you, damn it! He wants to get close to you for obvious reasons. Why else would he help you? Hell! Did he hit on you? I hope you didn’t buy into his bullshit!”
He had added snidely,
“What did you offer in exchange for his help, Cass?”

“Hold up a second! You are so off base! That was beneath you. What I do, who I talk to, is not for you to decide. For the record, not that it’s any of your damn business, he was a gentleman, no loss of pants occurred.”

“Cass! You better listen to me…”

Cassandra had fumed at Nathan’s insinuations that neither she nor Bauer had any integrity and that he thought so little of her. She had ended the call with a curt,
“No, I don’t need to.”

They hadn’t spoken since. The phone in her pocket rang, startling her out of her thoughts. She pulled it out and frowned when she saw Nathan’s number on the display.
Speak of the devil.
It was almost as if she had channeled him with her recollection. With a touch, she ignored the call and shoved it back in her pocket.

The attendant’s voice came over the intercom, alerting that Business Class boarding would take place in a few minutes. At the mention of Business Class, Cassandra had a vision of Bauer snug in his roomy seat, sipping champagne and eating cookies.
Bastard
.

“Damn,” she sighed
. I love cookies.
She wished she could have done the same, but the pinch to her wallet would have been more painful than the price of coach had already been.

****

Trevor found a seat to wait for the final announcement to board. When his section was called, he made his way, walking between the rows of chairs, toward the end of the line. As he maneuvered himself through the seating area, avoiding luggage and knees, he searched one last time for Cassandra among the many passengers.

Damn, it’s packed. I’ll never find her.
Distracted with his search, he missed a passenger’s sudden downward movement in front of him and his knee connected with something hard. At the impact, he glanced down in surprise.

Cassandra waited patiently for her turn to board. The Business Class line was moving along quite quickly, so she knew her time was getting closer. She bent over to reach in her bag for her boarding pass and passport. As she straightened, a knee connected with her temple.

“Dude!” she grumbled, rubbing the side of her head and looking up. “What are you? A bull in a freaking…” Cassandra’s words froze in her throat when she locked eyes with the indigo-blue ones looking down at her in concern.

“Shite! Sorry! I had no clue you were going to bend down! Are you okay?” he asked, reaching out to touch the red blotch on her temple.

Cassandra sat back to avoid his touch. She rubbed at the spot herself, trying to make the pain subside. Realizing she had dropped her passport on the floor in the confusion of the moment, she bent down again to get it, but Bauer had beaten her to it and handed it back to her. “Here you go.”

She snatched it from his hand and frowned. “What the hell are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be over the Antarctic or Atlantic Ocean by now?”

“You told me to be there close to the same time as you. I’m just following your instructions.” There was that grin again. “I managed to get a seat on the same flight. Now we’re perfectly synchronized. Not only will I be there close to your arrival time, I’ll be there at the
exact
same time. Admit it,” he wiggled his eyebrows; “I’m a genius.”

He, like her, observed the boarding line getting shorter by the second. “You sure you don’t want to join me? I can upgrade you quickly,” he offered a second time, but she shook her head stubbornly.

“No, thanks.”

Trevor hesitated, but must have seen from her face that she wasn’t budging. “I’ll see you in Paris then,” he said, and continued down the aisle.

“Whatever.” She narrowed her eyes and cursed under her breath as he walked away. It didn’t escape her notice that the other women in her row followed him with their eyes. She was filled with a strange urge to deck the one who tapped on her arm to ask shamelessly, “Can you introduce me?”

Cassandra could only stare dumbfounded at the woman who quickly let go of her arm, realizing from the glint in Cassandra’s eyes that the introduction was not going to take place.

Cassandra returned her gaze to Bauer and watched as he stepped into the Business Class lane with its silly red carpet. He flashed a boyish grin as he said something to the attendant taking his boarding pass, and Cassandra ground her teeth when the attendant joined him in laughter. Suddenly he looked up and caught her eye. He held her gaze for a moment and then smiled widely, waving his boarding pass at her as he walked through the door to the jetway.

“Great. Just freaking great,” Cassandra mumbled as she grabbed her bags and moved through to join the line. Sliding her laptop bag into a more comfortable position on her shoulder, she held her duffel in front of her as she entered the plane. “Damn it,” she whispered under her breath when she realized the passengers had to walk through Business Class to get to the coach section.

Cassandra adjusted her grip on her bags to be sure that the one on her shoulder was tight against her side and the duffel was front and center to keep from knocking some poor sucker in the head. Approaching the row where Bauer was sitting, Cassandra avoided his glance, praying that the people in front of her would move along quickly so she could pass without being noticed. As she pulled even with Bauer’s row, the person in front of her stopped abruptly and stepped back to stuff his personal items in the overhead bin. As she stumbled back to avoid being stepped on, her bag slipped off her shoulder and accidentally bumped Bauer on the side of his head.

“Bloody hell!” Bauer exclaimed as the beverage he was about to take a sip from spilled down his front and he pushed her bag away from him.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry, Bauer,” Cassandra gasped. She grabbed the cocktail napkin from his tray and dabbed at the drops on his chin and the wet spot on his shirt.

Trevor grabbed her wrist. “Stop. I have it handled.”

Suddenly realizing where she had been rubbing, Cassandra snatched her hand back. “Sorry.”

“Miss, you need to move on. You’re holding the line.” The attendant shooed her with a deep frown, which turned to one of concern when she saw Bauer’s shirt. “Sir! What happened?”

“Hurricane Cassandra, haven’t you heard?” Cassandra caught the small smile that quirked at his lips. Mortified, she kept moving.

Geez, talk about a good impression,
she thought, inching herself down the aisle, keeping an eye out for her seat. Every time they got near each other something always went awry.