Chapter 1
CHAPTER 1
K eeneston, present day . . .
Cassidy stared down at the flowers in her hands. She’d just caught the freaking bouquet at her cousin Colton’s wedding. Shivers ran down her body as the married women converged on her. Cassidy wasn’t claustrophobic, but this was making her panic.
Cassidy looked over at the reception she was trying to slip from since she’d been called away on a mission. Her damn cousin was smirking at her and she needed to go. Holden Beaumont, the Director of the CIA, had just called her. Deming Nikan, President of Crusina, was in danger. That alone would be enough to send her on the mission to help protect the American ally. However, Deming was also a personal friend of not only hers, but all of Keeneston.
“You know, cupcake,” her Grandpa Jake said as he pushed through the crowd and wrapped an arm around her. “I think it’s time for some grandfatherly advice.”
Cassidy rolled her eyes. “I’m not getting married because I caught some stupid flowers.”
Her grandpa chuckled as suddenly her father and uncles surrounded her and began distracting their wives and the Rose sisters. “I’m actually talking about your mission to protect Deming.”
“How did you know that?” Cassidy thought her grandfather knew nothing. He was always so quiet.
He winked at her and then she saw John Wolfe distracting his wife, Miss Lily. “Oh, John told you.”
“Yes, but this is about Deming, not getting married.”
Cassidy looked at her grandfather with confusion. “Sorry, Grandpa, but I’m in a hurry.”
“Cupcake,” his tone made her stop once she reached outside of the reception. Her father was there with all his brothers. What was going on? Was this a marriage intervention?
“I’m not getting married!”
“Do we look like the people pushing you to get married?” Uncle Cy asked, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at her.
“We want you to not get married... to Deming,” Uncle Miles told her in the same serious former Special Forces voice.
“Married to Deming? Why would I do that?” Cassidy was so confused.
“Sweetie, this is awkward to talk about,” her father, Pierce, said, definitely looking uncomfortable.
“No, it’s not,” Uncle Marshall interrupted. “Deming has a crush on you. I know that, we know that, you know that.”
Cassidy might have blushed a little. She thought she’d made it clear to Deming and to all the guys who flirted with her that she didn’t want to settle down right now. Not that she didn’t enjoy some flirtatious banter, but she was very honest about not wanting to settle down.
“You don’t want Deming getting hero worship when you swoop in and save him. So, you need to be very clear and put the poor boy out of his misery. Got it?” Uncle Cy asked.
A whistle in the parking lot drew their attention as Holt Everett strolled toward them with a grin on his face. Cassidy bit her lip. Holt and his brother, Knox, might also have had a little crush on her at one point in time.
“Hey, Cass,” Holt said with his signature panty-dropping smile.
“You’re such a good friend to Cassidy, Holt. We’re so proud of you and all you’ve accomplished with your singing, but I need a word with my granddaughter before she leaves.”
“Grandpa!” Cassidy gasped as the uncles blocked her from a confused looking Holt.
“He’s not the one for you, and neither is Deming. None of these whippersnappers sniffing around you are the one, so stop wasting time,” her grandfather told her.
“I’m not wasting time,” Cassidy protested. “I’m just not getting married right now.”
“Ugh!” Uncle Cy groaned. “We know. Don’t get married. Don’t go falling in love on this mission. Got it?”
“Got it, geez,” Cassidy grumbled. “And I’ll make it clear to Deming that I only like him as a friend. But first I have to save his ass.”
“Speaking of which,” Uncle Cade said, “do you need our help?” He looked excited.
“Nah, I think I’m good. I’ll call Aunt Annie if I need anything.”
Cade put his hand to his heart. “Ouch. I thought I was your favorite uncle.”
“No way. I am,” Uncle Cole said with a smirk.
Cassidy kissed their cheeks and left them arguing over who was the favorite uncle.
Cassidy reached the private jet at the airport right as it landed. She’d changed out of her dress and into jeans and a blouse. Her go-bag was in her hand as she waited for the stairs to be lowered while the jet was being fueled.
She climbed the stairs to find Warrick Vidar, her partner who ran all the tech for the ops, set up with his computers at one of the tables. “Hey, War.”
Warrick shoved his thick black-rimmed glasses up his nose and smiled at her. He had dirty blond hair brushed back from his face that always seemed a little out of place since he ran his hands through it too much. He stood, rubbing his bad leg. He’d told her about the injury to his leg at some comic book convention. There was pushing to get to some booth and Warrick had fallen on the sword of some character. It sliced his quadricep muscles and made his leg rather stiff, limiting his movement. He was the only person she knew who was her age who walked with a cane.
“How was the wedding?” Warrick asked, sitting back down.
“I caught the bouquet.”
Warrick shivered at the thought. “Maybe Deming will make your wedding dreams come true. After all, isn’t it strange that he asked for you personally?”
“No, we’re... friends. Deming has been mentored by the Ali Rahman family and has been to Keeneston a lot over the past several years. He’s a good guy trying to correct the mistakes of his father. However, that doesn’t mean I want to marry him. First my grandfather, then my uncles, and now you. I’m not getting married just because I caught some stupid flowers.” Warrick held up his hands. He’d been her teammate for a couple of years and knew when not to push it. “How was your date?” Cassidy asked, changing the subject.
Warrick groaned as he worked on his computer. “I thought it was going great until we started talking about comics. Then it went downhill. She thinks they’re stupid.”
Cassidy took her seat across the table from Warrick as the jet began to taxi down the runway. “Give the girl the benefit of the doubt. I thought they were stupid too until you introduced me to the right ones.” Cassidy had to admit, Warrick had the sexy nerd thing going on.
Warrick shrugged. “It’s hard to meet someone you connect with.”
Cassidy slumped in her seat. “I agree with you there. I’ve met so many cool guys, but there’s been no spark.”
“No offense, but the guys who are into you, don’t know you.”
“Sure, they do. I grew up with Holt and Knox Everett.”
“Yeah,” Warrick said, looking up from his computer. “They knew kid Cassidy. Not badass CIA agent Cassidy. You even told me yourself you hide who you are at home, choosing to be invisible.”
“You’ve never been to Keeneston, so you don’t know what it’s like to be part of such a huge family. Especially one with a lot of strong personalities.”
Warrick shoved his glasses up again. “True. All I’m saying is I let my nerd flag fly when I date someone. You should let your badass flag fly when you do.”
“Because an auditor is so badass,” she said of her cover. True, most everyone in Keeneston knew she was a spy. To be fair, most of Keeneston had top-secret clearance. But her regular dates thought she audited companies, which sent her all over the world for work.
“There’s a Norwegian saying that roughly translates to: Inside every woman is a queen. Speak to the queen and the queen will answer.”
“I actually get that one. Thanks War. I’ll think about it for my next date.” Warrick loved to teach her sayings from his ancestral home. Some she got. Others she didn’t. This one actually shook her up. Had she been doing that? Treating herself as invisible and making her wants and desires invisible to not only herself, but to others by playing a role instead of being true to herself? Was that what her uncles and grandfather were trying to tell her? Own who she was? Be her own queen?
“Here’s Director Beaumont,” Warrick said, now all business as he turned his laptop.
CIA Director Holden Beaumont filled the screen with his light brown hair tinged with gray at the temples. He always wore a suit and he always wore one of his signature ties. Every necktie he owned was either blue or red. There was no one more patriotic than Beaumont. He’d also been a rookie agent when Uncle Cy was most prominent within the agency. It was probably why he liked her so much. Uncle Cy was a legend and had passed on a lot of his secrets to her.
“Davies. I heard you caught the bouquet.”
Cassidy rolled her eyes. “Dare I ask how you know that?”
“Dare I ask how I got a text from Cy Davies telling me all about this mission and asking if we needed him and his brothers in Crusina?”
Warrick’s head snapped over to her. He didn’t know the extent of Keeneston’s spy network. “Wasn’t me,” she told them both, holding up her hands. “All John Wolf.”
“You expect me to believe some centenarian has top secret information?” Beaumont crossed his arms. “How?”
Cassidy cleared her throat. “He does and we think it might be communication with aliens. Or ghosts. We’re not sure which.”
Warrick choked a little and Beaumont rolled his eyes. “This discussion isn’t over yet. But we need to focus on the threat to President Nikan.”
Cassidy focused on the case. It was hard to hear that Deming was in danger, but she had to pretend this was just another mission. “An anonymous source sent us information that the insurgents who backed Viktor Nikan are planning an assassination attempt on Deming before he can testify at the trial of his father’s old cronies for their crimes against the citizens of Crusina. There have been previous attempts as the insurgents are not giving up, even as the years go by. Their numbers have swindled, but that’s only made them more dangerous.”
Cassidy frowned as pictures of the insurgents came onto the screen. She looked over at Warrick and saw that he was frowning too. “You see something, don’t you?”
“I feel as if something is nagging me, but I can’t place it yet.”
“You’ll be working with Jin Kuzmin, President Nikan’s personal guard,” Beaumont told them. “The mission is to get Nikan through the trial and assist his guards with the arrest of the insurgents.”
Cassidy glanced over at the garment bag she’d brought with her. “I have a rather unconventional idea. I need to think on it, but maybe we could get Deming’s insurgency under control once and for all.”