Countermeasure by Cecilia Aubrey, Chris Almeida

terms and set the episode behind them. Their friendship had been strengthened by the incident; since then, he had never failed her or compromised it.
    When she had left the CIA a year ago, she stayed in contact through email exchanges with a few close friends, including Nathan. It had just been recently that he’d been in contact more frequently and Cassandra worried he might still harbor romantic feelings for her after all that time.
    She snapped out of her recollection and wondered about the reason for so many emails. It had been at least two days since their last correspondence, so the five consecutive emails were a bit of a surprise.
    Cassandra opened the first of the five emails. She skimmed it and found it contained an update on how everyone had been. Okay, not too bad, she thought.
    Next, she opened the one sent a few hours later, Hey Cass! Heads up. Will be in your neck of the woods in the next week or so for a quick visit.
    Frowning, she opened the following email: Meant to ask, want to get together for dinner while I’m out there?
    She narrowed her eyes at the monitor and wondered about Nathan’s sudden visit to the Bay Area. This had better be a business trip and not an excuse to see me, s he thought, opening the last one. The note let her know that he would be arriving next week and included his itinerary. Well hell. She didn’t want to commit to anything and responded simply, When you get in and settled, call me .
    Cassandra yawned, looked at the clock on the computer, and realized she had to get up in two hours. The late-night dinner with Jessica and emails had taken longer than she expected. She logged off the computer and headed to bed. Lying in the dark she thought about Nathan . That’s it. If we end up having dinner, Jessica is coming. Who knows? Maybe they’ll hit it off.
    ****
    Cassandra sat in her office and stared at her computer as she considered the events of the last couple of weeks. The responsibilities of being lead on the Bristol job coupled with the fact that Nathan hadn’t left town yet from his “quick visit” made her wary. Jessica’s hints that he was trying to wear Cassandra down added to the sense of foreboding that something was about to go south.
    She pulled up the latest reports on the Bristol project and scanned through them for the hundredth time. On the surface, everything looked like the trial results were going like clockwork. Something’s off, she thought again. If only I can pinpoint what it is.
    She picked up the phone and called Matt. “Hey, have you noticed anything weird in any of your scans? Any suspicious files? New processes?”
    “Come on, Cass! What? Do you think I’m green behind the ears? I’ve been running constant checks and if there is even the slightest hint of strange activity I’ll know right away. I’m even monitoring TCP and UDP ports.”
    “Okay, okay! I hear you. You have it covered. Just call me if anything—and I mean anything —pops,” Cassandra reiterated before disconnecting.
    She knew the formula was too sweet a deal to pass up and that someone could be out there lurking, waiting for the right moment to jump in and take what they wanted . I must be paranoid, she thought as she rubbed her scar. It ached again and, in turn, caused her to second-guess herself. Am I overthinking this? Reading more into it than I should be?
    The phone rang, jarring her from her musings. One glance at the display and she knew exactly who it was.
    “Hello, Nate.”
    “Hello, gorgeous! How about dinner tonight? And don’t say you’re too busy. I checked with Jessica and she said you were going home for the evening.”
    Cassandra tapped her fingers on the desk in frustration. There was no way to beg off the dinner. She had put Nathan off for the past three days, suggesting he take Jessica out instead. She had hoped that they would connect and he would be out of her hair. This time around, though, he was determined to wear her down. Am I overthinking this