Page 15 of Cassidy

“You did it!” The words were barely out of her mouth when suddenly the screen went white, then red, then black. “What happened?”

Gabe hit several keys, trying to get the home screen to come back, but it was no use.

“Hey, what happened? I’ve been booted off the system,” one of the cops said.

“Me too!” another responded. “I can’t get my computer to work.”

“I have a bad feeling my logging in has sent a virus through the system,” Gabe said, his tone hoarse. “We’ve been sabotaged.”

Sabotaged? She looked at Rhy, who had gone pale.

Was this the reason Gabe had been assaulted? To destroy his work?

Or was there something much more sinister at play?

ChapterFour

“Can you fix it?” Rhy asked.

Gabe glanced at his boss, who looked very concerned. “I’ll do my best.” He raked a hand through his hair, then winced when his fingers brushed against the goose egg. He felt awful for inadvertently unleashing a virus. Should he have anticipated that? He wasn’t sure if he would have considered that as a possible threat even if he had his memory. Unless his memory included finding a virus in the first place. Yet if that was the case, he would have reported it.

“I’ll call Assistant Chief Michaels.” Rhy glanced at Cass, then back to Gabe. “I don’t mean to pressure you, but we really need your expertise to get us back up and running. Thanks to the changes you made in the system last year, this should only impact our precinct. Not all of them.”

The thought of all the precincts in the entire city of Milwaukee going down gave him a chill. Talk about a crippling blow against law enforcement. He gestured to the computer. “I’ll get to work on this right away.”

“Thanks.” Rhy turned to head to his office, but Cassidy hung back.

“Are you sure you’re up to this?” Her voice was low so as not to carry. “I’m not a medical professional, but I’ve heard screen time is not good for concussions.”

“I’m fine.” He forced a smile, touched by her concern. “Sounds like I should know this system backward and forward.”

“You do,” she said with confidence. “But you’re not a robot either. Just be careful. Don’t push yourself too much.”

“I won’t.” He told himself there was no time to bask in her concern. He turned his attention back on the computer. Despite the holes in his memory, he knew exactly how to access the system’s basic operating system. A few keystrokes later, he was in and able to navigate around. In familiar territory now, he searched for the virus that had infected their departmental system.

At some point, Cass brought him more coffee. “Thanks,” he said absently, without taking his gaze from the screen. “I appreciate your support.”

“That’s our line when it comes to the work you do for us,” Cassidy said lightly.

He tore his gaze from the screen to look over at her. The way she said the words indicated they spoke on a regular basis. Conversations that he would have loved to remember. “I really wish my memory would return.”

“You seem to be working fine without it.” She gestured to the computer. “Looks to me like you’re making progress.”

He wasn’t referring to his job, but their relationship. They obviously knew each other, well enough to know where they lived. To get rides from each other. He assumed he and Cassidy were friends, which was nice. But the fact that she was the only team member he’d remembered last night, combined with his undeniable attraction to her, made him think he’d yearned for more.

A vain hope as a nerdy guy like him wouldn’t have a chance with a beauty like Cassidy.

“I’ve found the virus and isolated it,” he said, falling back on familiar turf. “Thankfully, it wasn’t something too crazy. In another hour or so, we should be back online.”

“Great.” She rested a hand on his shoulder. “I knew you could do it.”

He wanted to cover her hand with his, but he couldn’t seem to move. He didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable, especially here in the precinct where they both worked. He forced himself to get back to the task at hand. Cassidy released him and moved away.

It was all he could do not to call her back.

Focus, he told himself sternly.The entire precinct needs you to focus!

He snacked on fruit-flavored candy as he worked. There was something familiar about being here. At some level, he was aware of the activity around him, but he was able to ignore the muted conversations. It wasn’t until he’d successfully launched the departmental program that he realized how bad the pounding in his head had gotten.

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