Commitment (6 page)

Jonathan Krause picked up his phone and lifted it to his ear. “Krause.”

“It’s Blevins. I need a ride.”

Krause inhaled deeply. “Flat tire?” he asked.

“No, lost my keys,” the response came swiftly.

“I’m not close. I’m afraid you are on your own. Perhaps you should call a cab,” Krause suggested.

“All right,” the voice answered. “It would have been more convenient for you to pick me up.”

“Yes. Sorry about that. Is the car secure or do you need a tow?” Krause asked.

“It should be fine.”

“Good. Sorry, I can’t help you,” Krause offered.

“I know how to call a cab,” the man responded.

Krause chuckled. “See you soon. Let me know if you find those keys.”

“Will do,” the voice said as the call disconnected.

Krause rubbed his hand over his head in frustration. The last thing he wanted to do was disturb Alex’s weekend. The call, however, was enough to convince him that a brief visit was necessary. Brian Fallon would not make such a call if he were not certain that they were compromised in some way. Fallon had been tailing Claire Brackett for months. Both Krause and Alex had been waiting for a break where
the younger Brackett was concerned. As reckless as the young agent’s actions could be; she was adept at covering her tracks. Krause began running through possible scenarios with the young, cocky Brackett at their center. The fact that the she had been responsible for the retrieval of the Cesium he and Alex had been attempting to track down for months concerned him. Tensions of late were higher than the usual off the charts strain embedded within the intelligence complex. It would have been an understatement to say that the situation had become volatile. The protocol that he had established with Brian Fallon was something he had hoped would never be needed. Dealing with Claire Brackett as the fringe operative she appeared was one thing; managing her as an agent whose ties remained secretly and deeply embedded in the agency or NSA could prove to be a nightmare.

It was clear to Krause that the admiral’s plan to call in his daughter and plant a seed of worry had worked. She ran to someone. It was where she found that someone that now concerned Krause the most. The warehouse in Baltimore had long functioned as Krause’s home base. The facility housed what was once the nerve center of the agency’s most secretive operations. It was comprised of a collection of NSA, CIA, and DOD experts and analysts. It had been The Collaborative’s living room. It was, until this moment, a location he had met with both Brian Fallon and Alex Toles.

Krause shook his head and groaned. He was anxious to get to Paris and speak with Edmond Callier, and this time he was determined to be unrelenting. It was time for some answers, long overdue answers. He had grown tired of researching The Collaborative’s money trail. That provided clues, many clues, but to date it produced no actionable intelligence. There was one question that was nagging at the back of his mind; was this focus on the money trail deliberate? Had the admiral and Edmond Callier
merely been stalling his efforts with Alex? It left a bitter taste in his mouth. Alex needed to know if Fallon was compromised in any way. He silently cursed the need to disrupt his new partner’s life again and the need to delay his flight overseas temporarily. “Sorry, Alex,” he sighed as he turned the key in the ignition.

Saturday, December 6th

lex woke up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She felt the space next to her and shifted to Cassidy’s side of the large bed, inhaling the faint scent of her wife’s perfume on the pillow. Cassidy reached the doorway and smiled at the sight before her. Normally, Alex was up well before her wife. On the rare occasions that Cassidy vacated the bed while Alex was sleeping, she often returned to find the agent hugging her pillow tightly. “Miss me?” Cassidy called playfully.

Alex made no effort to move and mumbled her response, still clinging to the pillow. “Why are you up?”

Cassidy giggled and made her way into the room with a cup of coffee. “It’s 9:00 a.m.” Cassidy laughed a bit harder as Alex reluctantly pulled herself to a sitting position, holding Cassidy’s pillow to her chest and pouting like an overtired child. “You are going to have to let go of squishy me, if you want this,” Cassidy winked and gently pried the pillow from Alex’s grip, replacing it with a cup of coffee.

“Squishy you?” Alex asked.

“Thought I didn’t know about that, huh?” Cassidy raised her brow. Alex suddenly found the contents of the cup in her hand fascinating. Cassidy could not help but laugh. She had gotten up one night after Dylan had come into their room. When she returned, she found Alex cuddled up to her pillow. Listening to Alex mumble, she decided to ask her wife what she was doing. In Alex’s sleep induced haze she had muttered,
“cuddling squishy you.” Cassidy kissed Alex’s cheek and whispered in her ear. “I’m not sure how I feel about being called squishy, but I think you are adorable.”

Alex gave a slightly embarrassed groan and took another sip of her coffee. Cassidy took the opportunity to sprawl across the bed and put her head in Alex’s lap. “Where’s Speed?” Alex asked.

Cassidy closed her eyes, feeling Alex’s hand instinctively begin to comb gently through her hair. “Looking through boxes of ornaments with your mother. It was a great diversion to keep him from coming up here to pounce on you.”

“You could have let him…”

“Mm-hm…I know,” Cassidy replied. “You needed the rest, honey.”

“I guess I did,” Alex admitted. “I take it you asked Mom about coming back with us later today.”

“I did.”

“What did she say?” Alex asked.

Cassidy cuddled a little closer. “I think she is looking forward to it.”

The sound of the doorbell caused both women to sigh. They both chuckled at Dylan’s enthusiastic greeting when the door opened. “Uncle Pip!”

Alex exhaled forcefully, and Cassidy felt the stiffening in her wife’s body. “I take it this is not a social call,” Cassidy said softly.

“Probably not,” Alex admitted, placing a gentle kiss on Cassidy’s head. She carefully extracted herself from underneath the weight of her wife and watched as Cassidy threw the pillow she had been holding over her face. “Hey, be careful with squishy you,” Alex admonished. Cassidy kicked her feet slightly in frustration, and Alex laughed. “I’m sure it is nothing earth shattering,” Alex assured her.

Cassidy sighed and threw the pillow off of her. “I just would like a couple of days…just for us to be…”

Alex smiled. “I know,” she said. “You know….You love Pip, and so does Dylan.” Cassidy’s brow furrowed. “You do,” Alex laughed. “And he loves you both. I’m sure an excuse to see you figured into the equation.”

Cassidy contemplated the look in Alex’s eyes. She had watched the evolution of Alex’s relationship with Jonathan Krause. They were alike in many ways. There was little doubt in Cassidy’s mind that Alex had genuine affection for Jonathan Krause, though it was something Alex never spoke of directly. “Well, whatever it is, it had better not change our plans,” Cassidy said more firmly than she had intended.

The tension in her wife’s voice did not escape Alex’s notice. She offered Cassidy an apologetic smile. “It won’t.” She kissed Cassidy on the forehead and headed to retrieve some clothes.

“Mom! Alex! Uncle Pip is here!” a voice bellowed up the stairs.

Alex finished buttoning her jeans and pulled a blue sweater over her head. “Come on,” she said as she pulled Cassidy to her feet. Cassidy collapsed into the agent’s arms, and Alex held her close.

“Promise?” Cassidy asked weakly. She hated being needy, but the truth was, she did need Alex.

“I promise, Cass,” Alex replied with another soft kiss. “Come on, the sooner we get down there; the sooner we get on with our weekend.”

“I hope so,” slipped almost inaudibly from Cassidy’s lips. It did not go unnoticed by her wife, and Alex made a silent commitment to close the physical distance that had kept them apart far too often as soon as possible.

“I promise,” Alex whispered as they made their way down the stairs.

Dylan was excitedly showing his Uncle Pip some of Alex’s childhood Christmas ornaments when Alex and Cassidy reached the room hand in hand. Immediately, the boy found his feet and ran to his parents. “Alex, look!” He held out a Big Bird ornament with a great big smile. “YaYa says this one was yours!”

“Yep, I believe it was, Speed.” Alex winked and swept Dylan up onto her. His feet gripped her waist, and his arms flew around her neck tightly. “I missed you, Dylan,” Alex said, her voice hoarse with more emotion than she expected.

Dylan just smiled. “Mom says we are getting our tree tomorrow!” He turned back to the man that was sitting on the sofa and continued. “YaYa’s coming too. She’s going to let me take some of her ornaments and help us with the tree,” he said. “Why don’t you come, Uncle Pip?”

Jonathan Krause’s lips curled into a warm, genuine smile. Something about Dylan always seemed to remind him of his youth. He could see so much of Cassidy in the youngster. He looked like his mother. He was intelligent and compassionate just like the woman Jonathan Krause had always loved. Dylan’s eyes twinkled with the mischief of the best friend Krause missed every day. “I’m sorry, Dylan. I wish I could.”