Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

Cass was alone in her office, searching for a hint to her past she was beginning to believe didn’t exist.

It’d been three days since they’d found the trackers on their cars. Three days since the reality of the situation had really hit her.

Three days of constantly looking over her shoulder.

Her uncle wanted her.

Deal and Hound had reported there hadn’t been much movement at the house where her uncle’s second-in-command and two lackeys were holed up.

That raised red flags for Cass, and the team. Why weren’t they making a move? Were they waiting for her uncle to turn up ?

Even considering Gomez Ramirez as her uncle was foreign. She didn’t know the man. Had had nothing to do with him. If she’d even met the man, she couldn’t recall.

Then again, the first eight years of her life was a blank space, and she couldn’t find a damn thing to help her unlock those memories.

The mystery still remained of what’d happened to her for two years. Cass had worked at the CIA for long enough to know they recorded everything. Had a file on every operation they conducted. Every experimental torture technique.

Everything.

Yet, it appeared they hadn’t bothered to record anything related to those two years of her life. As though she didn’t exist. As if they’d locked her away somewhere and had forgotten about her.

Had that been what’d happened?

Had they put her in a dark cell with nothing except the essentials, and when they’d broken her, they’d pulled her out and had given her over to the agents who became her parents?

Cass closed her eyes and supported her head in her hands. “Why can’t I remember?” she muttered. “Why can’t I unlock this mystery? Why can’ t I find anything?”

Her head began to ache, and she welcomed the pain, instead of being afraid of it. She didn’t have a tumor. She’d had scans and MRIs. There was nothing wrong with her brain. No reason for the pain to happen. However, it happened regularly. Recently, when it arrived, it brought back one of her locked memories.

She snapped her eyes open.

Was the pain in her head related to her past?

Related to what had happened to her?

Another searing pain penetrated Cass’s skull, and she breathed through it, closing her eyes once again.

Would she get another memory?

Or would it remain blank?

Slowly a fuzzy image formed. She was sitting in a room. The chair was metal and uncomfortable to sit on. Her hands rested on a matching metal desk.

Someone sat across from her, showing her pictures and talking slowly.

Cass didn’t understand what was being said, and she couldn’t make out what was being shown to her younger self.

Frustration flowed through her. Was it from not being able to see fully what was unfolding, or was she picking up on the emotions she’d been feeling at the time ?

Her fingers curled into fists, and she pounded the table before standing and flipping it over.

A shadow formed into a person who grabbed her. A man.

She could see herself kicking her legs in an attempt to get away.

Another person came up with a needle and inserted it in her arm.

The fight left her, and she slumped in the man’s arms.

Cass gasped, and she opened her eyes. Like in her memory, her hands were clenched into fists. Her heart beat rapidly, and sweat beaded her top lip.

“What just happened, Alastriona? ”

Irish’s soft voice crept over her, startling her at the same time.

“Dylan!” Cass stumbled out of her chair, and he caught her, holding her tight against his chest.

Breaths shuddered out of her, and she needed to get a handle on it so she wouldn’t hyperventilate, but in Irish’s arms, her panic began to seep out of her, leaving her shaky and grateful he was there.

“I’ve got you,” he kept whispering over and over as his hand rubbed up and down her back.

With his words and actions, Cass was able to come down from the vision. Her breathing settled into its normal rhythm, and the fear that she was about to hyperventilate disappeared.

All because of the man holding her.

How long had he been in her office?

Why hadn’t she heard him walk in?

Then again, the guy was a former Delta. He had stealth down to a fine art.

After a few more moments, Cass felt more in control of herself, and she leaned back to look up at him. “Thank you.”

He smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling. The blue of his irises was bright and open. “Always.” Irish dropped his head, and his lips captured hers in a soft kiss.

She sank into it, needing the connection to him to chase away the lingering remnants of pain.

Weird, how after she had a flashback to her past, the pain in her head disappeared just as quickly as it came. Further convincing her that it was all connected. Only, Cass had had to go through months of headaches before the images surfaced.

She broke the kiss and touched his cheek. “You always seem to know when I need you. How do you do that? ”

Irish shrugged as though it wasn’t a big deal. Maybe it wasn’t to him, but it was to her. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Did she?

Part of her wanted to explain what she’d experienced, yet the other part was worried that talking about it would bring back the physical response. She’d just gotten herself under control. Did she want to travel down that road again?

Cass needed to. If she talked about it, maybe Irish could help her make sense of the scene she’d relived.

“I had another memory.”

Cass’s words didn’t come as a surprise to Irish. He’d suspected that was what she was going through when he’d stormed into her office.

He’d been at his desk when the hairs on the back of his neck had stood to attention. He’d been up and out of his chair and out the door in seconds heading straight for Cass, knowing that she needed him.

A quick look around Cass’s office had revealed there was no danger present. In that split second, he’d worked out that Cass had needed him for a different reason.

Her head had been in her hands when he’d flung the door open.

Irish had opened his mouth to demand what was going on it. Instead he’d closed the door quietly and waited. Watched.

Whatever Cass was remembering hadn’t been pleasant, and the urge to yank her out of the past had been one he’d controlled—barely.

All he’d wanted to do was take the pain away. Her loud gasp had alerted Irish to her coming back to the present.

When he’d seen the stark fear and anger on her face, he’d been glad he was in her space. She’d needed him—and he’d been there.

“What was it?” he asked eventually, after the silence between them had stretched to spider-web thin.

A shudder rippled through Cass, and he stoked her back again. “It was rough,” she whispered.

“I gathered that, and if you don’t want to talk about it, I’ll understand.”

“I don’t, but I have to. But not here. Can we go for a walk somewhere?”

Every bit of his Delta training kicked in, and he wanted to deny her wish. It was too dangerous to go outside. As it was, Irish hadn’t liked her coming into the office after they’d found the trackers. Had tried to encourage her to work from home, but Cass had been adamant she wasn’t going to let the threat of her uncle stop her from living her life.

However, he’d seen the toll it had taken on her. The way she didn’t fully relax until she was in her office. Or at home.

Things had been too quiet for Irish’s comfort, but that wasn’t something he could think about now. His focus was on the woman in his arms. Her needs.

“You don’t want to go for a walk, do you?” she asked when he hadn’t said anything about her request.

“Not particularly, but I also know I can’t stop you from doing what you want to do.”

A small smile played across Cass’s lips. “I know it’s not wise to expose myself like this, but I’m tired of being cooped up. Of giving in to the fear of my uncle’s looming presence. I know it’s only been three days, but all we’ve done is go between home and the office. I just want to feel a little normal.”

Irish appreciated her honesty. Cass wasn’t someone who would put herself in dangerous situations. However, that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to take precautions. “We can go, but on one condition.”

“I’m wearing a tracker necklace and earrings. I’m not sure how much more we can do to ensure my position is known at all times.”

“I know, but we’ve also seen how easy it is for the trackers to be lost, through no fault of the people wearing them.”

“The chain on this necklace is a lot thicker than the one Eveline wore. And I’m not going to fiddle with my earrings the way Teresa did,” Cass said.

Irish couldn’t fault her arguments. After Eveline’s chain had been ripped off, Ox had decided future chains had to be solid and put through various tests to ensure it couldn’t easily be snapped.

As for Teresa’s situation with the earrings, she hadn’t even been aware she’d been fiddling with them, and it was only dumb luck that the asshole who’d taken her had decided he didn’t like her doing what she was doing and demanded she take them off.

“My condition doesn’t have anything to do with the trackers. I want one of the guys to trail us. They won’t be close enough to hear what we have to say, but I’ll feel better knowing if anything happens, we’ve got back up.”

“Okay, I can live with that,” Cass said.

Irish pressed a kiss on her lips. “Good, let me go see who’s free. Meet you at Yolanda’s desk in five?”

“I can do that.”

He didn’t want to walk out and leave her alone, even for the five minutes it would take to speak to who was available to follow them. He’d also pick up some earpiece comms so he had contact with whichever guy was tailing them, and Irish could also speak to them.

There was no way he wasn’t going to take every precaution possible to ensure that he’d covered all bases.

Ten minutes later, he and Cass were walking out of the building heading toward the small park that wasn’t too far from the office.

Growler and Jag were following them. Jag had already gone ahead to the park to scope out the area, and if anyone suspicious was lurking, then they’d change direction and head to the coffee shop not far from the office.

The coffee shop wasn’t the ideal place to have a private conversation, but a closed area was a little easier to survey than a large open park.

“Park is clear,” Jag communicated through the comms.

“Copy that,” Irish said, and placed his hand on the small of Cass’s back.

“You can take the guy out of the Deltas but cannot take the Delta out of the guy. Why am I not surprised you’ve got comms units? ”

He chuckled. “You got it right, babe. And how else am I going to know if there’s any danger around if I don’t have contact with the guys?”

“I see Growler is joining us on this little walk. Who else is coming along?”

“Jag’s at the park. But don’t worry. Neither one of them will listen in on our conversation.”

For them to be able to hear, Irish would have to activate his mic, and he was only doing that if necessary.

“I know,” she said.

Since she’d been integral in getting them to Astrid, Eveline, and Teresa when they’d gone missing, she was aware of how their comms systems worked.

They made the rest of the walk in silence. Irish kept scanning their surroundings. He trusted his teammates, but he wouldn’t be himself if he didn’t observe the area either. Also, his instincts weren’t screaming that something was wrong, which helped.

Once they reached the park, he steered her toward the bench beneath a leafy tree. The weather was warm, but not overly so. The park was busy with moms and kids playing on the swings and slides.

Irish picked out where Jag was situated, only because the man stepped into his line of vision before disappearing again .

Growler had taken up his spot on another one of the benches, looking at his phone, but it was all a ruse. The man was scanning their surroundings, on alert, ready to leap into action if needed.

Would Ramirez’s men make a play in the middle of the day at a busy park?

Anything was likely, and the way some of them acted, it wouldn’t surprise Irish if they were arrogant enough to think they could make a move and get away with it.

Maybe that was why Ramirez’s number two was in the country—to stop them from making a stupid move. It could happen, but he pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind. His focus was on the woman beside him. The reason they were at this park.

“This is nice,” Cass murmured as she lifted her face to the sun.

“You’re beautiful,” he muttered. “You take my breath away.”

She cupped his cheek. “I’m so glad you’re in my life, Dylan O’Reilly. I don’t know how I’d cope with all of this if you weren’t right beside me.”

“No place I’d rather be.” Irish leaned forward and melded his lips to hers. Who cared that this kiss was probably being observed by his teammates or the other people in the park ?

All he cared about was the woman sitting beside him.

Cass pulled away, capturing his wrist and pressing on the comms button. “We need to keep it G rated,” she said before releasing her hold.

Laughter sounded in Irish’s ears and if he could get away with it, he’d flip off both Jag and Growler, but there were too many innocent eyes around for him to risk being caught out. Instead, he activated his mic.

“Get back to your jobs.” He kept his voice light so they knew he was joking.

Another round of laughter greeted his comments and proved he’d succeeded.

“Sometimes you boys are as bad as those kids fighting over the swing,” Cass groused good naturedly.

“You started it,” Irish countered.

She smiled, a carefree one, and it warmed his heart to see it. Coaxing smiles out of her the last few days had been a challenge.

“Are you ready to talk?” he asked.

“No, but I know I have to.” Cass grabbed his hand, and he curled his fingers around her, squeezing them encouragingly. She returned the gesture and relayed her memory flashback.

The more she spoke, the more anger swelled inside of him. Irish shouldn’t be surprised that she’d been drugged, but it didn’t make it any easier to swallow. She’d been just a child.

Innocent.

A pawn in the CIA’s game.

A means to an end, and one they let walk away.

Why had they let her leave?

It was a question he’d asked himself before and still wasn’t able to come up with a reasonable answer. It was one he didn’t need to dwell on now. Cass and her flashback were where his concentration needed to be.

“I don’t know what to make of it. I’m sure it was me in the memory, but how can I be sure that it really happened to me, and I haven’t transposed something I saw in a movie years ago to here and now?” Cass said.

True, the brain was a powerful organ, and there were so many things that most people didn’t understand about it, even those that studied it.

“What’s your gut telling you?” he whispered.

“It’s me. I was in that room. I didn’t like what they were trying to do. Or trying to make me do. My stomach was churning, and I could feel myself getting angry and frustrated when I was remembering it.”

“Then it was you, and it was real. Now we just have to see if we can find out when that was.”

“It has to be in the missing two years. They didn’t keep a record of it, Irish. I’ve never known the CIA not to record everything they do. Any techniques they test or use to get information out of people are always documented. There should be something on them doing this to me.”

Another puzzle piece that didn’t fit into the jigsaw that Cass’s past was presenting.

Why wouldn’t they have noted their observations on what worked and what didn’t?

There were many times a CIA Operative had visited the base to go over the latest techniques to get information that they’d tested and found to be effective. Techniques that Irish hadn’t agreed with, but he’d seen others use them and the results were exactly as the agent had espoused. They achieved their goal.

“Perhaps we could find out if they adopted the technique they used on you to someone else. Maybe they used the same agents, and we can track them down and ask them if they remember you,” Irish said.

Although, there was no way he’d let Cass in the same room as them. Who knew what they would do if they saw her again?

As it was, why hadn’t the CIA come crawling and knocking on their doors demanding Cass return to the fold?

He didn’t doubt her computer skills and her ability to cover her tracks, but that phone call to her mother would’ve landed on the CIA’s radar the moment the call ended.

What game was the CIA playing?

Whatever it was, he was going to make sure they didn’t get their hands on Cass.