Jacob(21)

Doc sat down next to Keelee and took her bottle of water.

“Hey! Not like I was drinking that or anything.” Her reprimand forced another coughing fit.

Tori turned herself around in Jacob’s lap so she could watch the couple on the couch. Doc sat his beer down and grabbed Keelee’s waist twisting her so they both could use the arm rest she was seated next to for a back rest.

“Well sure! Why don’t you just go ahead and join me, Dr. Cassidy?”

Tori snuggled up against Jacob’s cold body, plastering herself against his chest.

“Thank you. I think I will.” Doc’s reply got a rumble of laughter from Jacob. His chuckle was not the only one she heard. Tori peaked over Jacob’s shoulder and giggled at Keelee’s little laugh.

Doc took a sip of beer and put half a piece of bacon into his mouth. “How many head of cattle do you run on this ranch? We must have brought down a million head of livestock today.”

Tori pointed to Keelee, who answered. “After we sell off the yearlings in July and August we run a couple thousand head through the winter. We bring them down closer to the home because the pastures have good grass come winter and if necessary, we can provide hay and feed. We run a robust mixed breed of Hereford and Angus, so they usually do well through the winter.”

Another coughing fit wracked Keelee’s body. Doc stood up suddenly and went into his room. He returned and handed two tablets to her and motioned to her untouched water bottle. “Take these. You’ll be able to sleep and breathe more comfortably.”

Keelee shook her head. “I don’t take medicine.”

Jacob’s chest reverberated under Tori when he added an “Amen.”

She laughed up at Doc, “Stubborn, aren’t they?”

Doc frowned. “Him, I understand. You, young lady, are running a fever and need to rest.”

Keelee got off the couch and headed to the kitchen. “I can rest when I’m dead. Right now dinner needs attention.”

Tori jumped up following her sister as Doc sat down on the couch.

Jacob hit Doc’s leg and stage whispered, “Damn dude, you struck out. No snuggling and she won’t take any of your happy pills. Don’t worry. I still love you, man.”

Doc snorted. “Good to know, Skipper.”





Chapter Ten


Soaked with perspiration, Tori’s body fell on Jacob. Amazed and completely satisfied, Jacob stroked her dampened hair and threw the sleeping bag over both of them to prevent her from catching a chill. “Have I told you today how much I love you?”

“Yep, three times in the last hour or so.”

His laughter shook her body as she draped him. “God, you make me happy.”

She lifted her head and met his eyes. “Jacob, I think we make each other happy. I feel like I’m a complete person when I’m with you.”

Jacob searched her face before he spoke the words his mind and heart struggled to come to terms with. “Fuck, Tori, how am I going to leave you to go on missions?”

“Silly man, you are going to do what you have to do. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself while I wait for you. You have a calling that I won’t interfere with. If you ever decide to stop going on missions, it will be because you choose not to go, not because of me. I won’t allow it, and you would resent me sooner or later if I did.”

He rolled onto his side taking her with him. Her long, lean body felt perfect tucked next to him. “You realize when I’m not with you there could be a full-time security detail?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I got that when you were getting your ass chewed by your boss.”

He closed his eyes and grimaced. Opening one eye, he peeked at her. Yeah, he felt slightly less than happy she’d heard that conversation. “You heard, huh?”

Tori scrunched her nose. “Only the parts he yelled, but he yelled quite a bit.”

Jacob pulled her over and kissed her. “What exactly did you do at the Agency or the Bureau or wherever you used to work?”

“I worked for the Agency, specifically as an International Intelligence Level One Analyst. I’m good at what I do. I was also a trained field operative. Why?”

He shrugged. “I’m assuming you want to continue working?”

He saw her light up inside, and her eyes flashed when she spoke. “Yes, I’d love to work again.” She sighed and shook her head. Just as fast as the light came on he watched her happiness drain. “But I won’t go back to the agency. I can’t work for them again.”

Jacob played with her hair as he broached the subject she had avoided. “Honey, I’m going to need to know why you left. When I get back to the ranch, I’ll make the call to build your position working directly for me.”

Tori sat up by his hip looking at him. “You want the abridged version or the whole nine yards?”

He smiled. “I’m a whole nine yards kind of guy.”

“I was played. I was unknowingly fed false information and then handed to the Afghani’s on a silver platter.

Tori shrugged and examined her fingernails. “In hindsight I should’ve seen it, but I didn’t. Too far into the forest to notice the trees if you will.” She pulled the sleeping bag over her shoulders and shivered. “Okay, the whole nine yards. I lived my job for four years. I didn’t date much and didn’t really have any desire to do so. I can get lost in the research, data, and the dynamics of breaking through impenetrable firewalls, making existing software into information gathering protocols. You know…mainly finding intelligence in ways no one would suspect. About three years ago a nice-looking agent made me the target of his affections. I had no interest, but he was persistent. I finally agreed to go out for dinner. As I said, he was nice and we had a pleasant night. Nothing fantastic, mind you. No fireworks, honestly there weren’t even any sparks, but I realized then that I was lonely so I agreed to go out with him again. This agent was promoted to branch chief a couple months later. We continued our friendship because there was nothing physical between us.”

Tori’s hands began to shake as she looked up to the ceiling. “I now know he fed me information from other sections. Bits of intelligence here, pieces of operations there, it was all done over time and seemingly innocent. The information alone was not classified, but coupled with the information he knew I knew, it could be considered critical to national security. One day I was called to his office and told I was going on a mission. It was routine low-level drop and I didn’t suspect anything because, in order to maintain my field operative status, I had to go out once a quarter. My cover story was solid, and I was completely unprepared when I was drugged and abducted from the hotel.”

Tori stopped talking and drew circles on his chest. He watched silently as she tried to gain some control her emotions. But still her voice broke as she whispered, “It was leaked I was agency. I never broke my cover. I never divulged any information.” Jacob waited patiently watching as she silently tried to once again compose herself.

“I speak four languages and three Afghani dialects. I could understand them when they talked in front of me. I knew they were confused. Their intel made me for Agency, but I didn’t break, so they were looking for a ransom payment, anything to negate their losses in the eyes of the ISIS. The elders still had control of the area, but they were worried ISIS militants would demand tribute. To them I was nothing more than a commodity. They were very close to finding out I had no value. That is when you entered the picture.” Jacob nodded and waited.

“When we landed in Germany, I was immediately shot full of drugs and put on another plane to D.C. After waking up in a hospital, I was debriefed. No, that isn’t right. I was—interrogated—with prejudice. Dr. Amiri was in charge of the interrogations. From what I can figure out, the bottom line was that I was supposed to break. It was expected I would release the information I had been fed. It was all false, but would’ve been credible if the interrogations had broken me. They knew. The people who sent me knew if I was broken I would be killed, and they counted on that. They counted on me breaking and being killed. My mission was considered a failure because I didn’t break, and I lived.” Tears streamed over her cheeks. The last words melted together with silent sobs that racked her relentlessly.

Jacob pulled her down to him and held her as she quietly fell apart.

The rage ignited in him went beyond anything he had ever felt before. “Tori, what is the name of the Branch Chief who set you up?” Please God, let him get his hands on that son of a bitch. Five minutes. Just five minutes.

She shook her head. “No Jacob, if I tell you, you’ll act on it and we both know that would not end well…for anyone.”

“You know I can find out.”

She looked up at him. Her red-rimmed tear-filled eyes silently begging. “I know if I ask you not to you won’t, and I’m asking you, Jacob, let it go.”

He groaned as he pulled her as close to him as he could. How could he let this go? “Honey, I don’t know if I can do that.”

She kissed his chest, her sobs stilled, but tiny hiccups for air assaulted her body in the aftermath. “Please, for me?”