weaponry, survival courses, multiple foreign languages. Too many other available studies to recall at the moment. The overall goal was the advancement and empowerment of women. All good. But somehow, in her senior year, Kayla had gotten off track, had lost some vital part of herself. In the search to regain completeness, she’d met and fallen for a cocky young officer from the Air Force base.
The image of the man she’d allowed to break her heart all those years ago flashed briefly through Kayla’s mind. Her automatic instinct was to banish any thought of him. But Josie’s call a couple weeks ago had Kayla hesitating. Josie Lockworth was a dear friend and a Cassandra, as well as a rising star in the Air Force. The same branch of the military in which Jazz’s father still served.
Mike Bridges wanted to know his daughter. Jasmine Michelle Ryan. The daughter Kayla had raised all alone. Admittedly, he had sent child support since the day Jazz was born, twelve years ago next month. And Kayla had been blessed with the full support of her family, so to say she’d done this alone wasn’t exactly accurate.
But so many times she had felt alone.
She shouldered into a sweatshirt, pulled her hair loose and began to braid it. Maybe that was part of the reason she’d been drawn to Marshall so strongly.
It had been so very long since she’d allowed herself to need a man on a personal level, much less an intimate one. Peter Hadden slipped into her troubled thoughts next. Her heart reacted instantly, picking up a few extra, foolish beats.
She couldn’t help smiling when she thought of the way he always looked a little rumpled. Sexy as hell. Totally the opposite of meticulously groomed Marshall. Peter Hadden was one of those men who made the just-dragged-out-of-bed look so appealing.
Damn him.
How many times had she longed to run her fingers through his tousled hair? To yank his rumpled suit clean off his body. To ensure that it was properly laundered and pressed, of course, she’d assured herself.
Yeah, right.
And those eyes. Amazing, she admitted, allowing the momentary lapse in sanity while no one was around to notice. But it was that damned smile that got to her the fastest. Sexy, flirty, and so warm. No, not warm. Hot.
And even more than that, she found his dogged persistence dangerously tempting. No matter how often she pushed him away, he kept coming back. You had to love a guy who didn’t give up.
Why couldn’t she simply enjoy him? Her fingers faltered in their work as she secured the end of her waist-long braid. Good question. She was twenty-nine. She’d scarcely even dated since Jazz became a part of her life. What prevented her from having a no-strings physical relationship with a man?
Warmth spread down her limbs at the concept.
Mike popped back into her head. Because her life was complicated enough.
She’d fallen for a sexy smile and amazing eyes once before. Though Mike’s were hazel, the same combination of green and blue that Jazz had inherited, the effect was the same. He’d turned Kayla inside out with just a look.
Maybe it was past time she’d allowed a man back into her life. Didn’t her own mother and sister broach that very subject now and again? Like clockwork.
Still, now was not the time. Until those behind Rainy’s murder and the fate of her offspring were solved, getting involved with anyone was out of the question. Especially considering this latest turn of events where Hadden was concerned. Kayla owed it to Marshall to protect him.
No. She owed it to Rainy.
Rainy had loved Marshall. Kayla would protect him for that very reason if for no other.
She walked over to her bedside table and picked up the framed photograph of her precious daughter. Jazz had the same long dark hair as Kayla, the same features. Only the color of her eyes had made it from her father’s side of the gene pool. No fancy Ivy League college or high-powered career could have made Kayla’s life more complete. Like all Athena graduates she had received a scholarship offer from a prestigious school, Princeton, in fact. But Jazz was far more important to Kayla than anything else.
The idea that Rainy might have at least one child out there—a child she hadn’t even known about—squeezed at Kayla’s heart. What had become of that child or children—if it even existed—was just another piece of the puzzle surrounding Rainy’s death.
During Rainy’s autopsy, Alex had discovered that Rainy still had her appendix. Yet, all those years ago in school, Rainy had supposedly had an appendectomy during seventh grade.
In the autopsy, Alex had also discovered scars—old scars—on Rainy’s ovaries. Now the remaining Cassandra’s were certain that someone had actually faked the appendectomy to mine her ovaries, stealing her precious eggs.
Marshall had explained that when he and Rainy hadn’t conceived, they’d sought help from a specialist to no avail. That must have been when Rainy had begun to suspect the truth. And she’d never had a chance to tell her friends those suspicions.
Kayla desperately needed to talk to that specialist. But Dr. Deborah Halburg had been out of the country for months now. No one knew when she was expected to return to her practice in Tucson.
Darcy Steele, a Cassandra as well as a private investigator, had managed to find one woman, a Las Vegas showgirl known as Cleo Patra, who had gotten paid to be a surrogate mother around the same time as Rainy’s supposed appendectomy. Cleo had given birth to a baby, but had no idea what had happened to the child.
Alex had connected with Justin Cohen, whose sister had died giving birth to a surrogate baby about nine months after that time. Justin was certain Athena Academy had something to do with his sister’s death, and the Cassandras had come to believe him.
Tory, using her reporter’s instincts and connections, had discovered that a fertility clinic had been burglarized all those years ago and that one of the missing sperm specimens belonged to Navy SEAL and hero Thomas King. And when Tory had been sent to interview King on a completely unrelated story, someone had tried to kill them both.
Sam had taken down the Cipher, the man who’d killed Rainy.
Josie, who had connections in Army Intelligence, had looked for more information on the Cipher and had learned of an obscure lab, numbered 33, connected to some kind of an experiment called “cipher.” So far, they had found no connection between Lab 33 and Athena Academy. In fact, they’d found no further information about the mysterious lab at all. But the investigation was far from over.
Using the skills Athena Academy as well as life had taught them, the Cassandras would work together to solve the rest of this mystery. Rainy might never have had the opportunity to know her child. But, if that child existed, it would know about its biological mother.
The telephone rang and Kayla jerked out of her agonizing thoughts.
She’d already heard that the two injured perps were out of surgery and stable. Maybe the investigator had more questions. She hoped not. Even the idea of a shooting being questioned by superiors gave most cops the willies. Kayla was no exception. Though she knew she hadn’t done anything wrong, that fact didn’t keep her from experiencing a moment’s trepidation.
“Ryan.”
“Kayla, it’s Alex.”
A
