Page 45 of Cassidy

An hour? Not a handful of minutes? He winced, realizing he was in worse shape than he’d thought. He blinked again, struggling to focus. “An hour is more than I realized. It should be enough of a break that I can get back to work.”

“No.” Her steely tone took him aback. “I mean it, Gabe. I almost didn’t wake you up because I knew you’d try to get right back on the computer. Are you hungry?”

Hungry? Normally, he would be, but the nausea that swirled in his gut indicated otherwise. “Not really.”

She threw up her hands. “See? That’s my point! You’re not well enough to work.”

“I’ll eat.” He managed to stay upright. “Please, Cass. We’ll grab something to eat, and then I’ll work for a bit.” When she opened her mouth to argue, he added, “If the screen gets blurry again, I’ll stop.”

“Promise?” She looked deep into his eyes, and even though the only light was coming in through the open door, he could see she was truly concerned.

“Yes, I promise.” He forced a smile. “I appreciate you keeping your vow to wake me with news. I’ll keep my promise as well.”

“Fine.” She released his arms. “But I’m only giving in because I think you should eat something. The fact that you’re not doing any snacking is just as concerning as hearing you admit your vision has been getting blurry.”

Having seen his drawer of snacks, he couldn’t argue the point. After watching him for a moment, she gave an exasperated sigh, then turned away. “Rhy ordered pizza. I hope that’s okay.”

“Sure.” Gabe followed her out of the room, wincing when the bright lights hit his eyes. Maybe he should consider working while wearing sunglasses. Then he knew if he did that, Cass and Rhy would make him stop. Remembering she said the time was six o’clock, he frowned. “Rhy should be home with his wife and daughter.”

“I told him that,” Cassidy said, glancing at him over her shoulder. “He’s worried about you, Gabe. We all are.”

“I’m fine.” Cassidy’s concern was heartwarming from a personal perspective, but he wasn’t an invalid. He didn’t want Rhy or the other members of the team to pity him. A memory caught him off guard. Two months ago, Zeke had gotten shot in the shoulder while protecting his fiancée, Sienna, from harm. Zeke had gone through emergency surgery to repair the damage and was still getting physical therapy while being off work. That was something to be concerned about.

Not a bump on his hard head.

Yet there was no denying his concussion was hampering his ability to work.

When he followed Cass into the break room, he was relieved only half the overhead lights had been turned on. The throbbing in his head dimmed a little. He crossed to the staff fridge and pulled out a water bottle.

“You should be sleeping,” Rhy said, entering the room carrying a large pizza box.

“Yeah, and you should be at home with your wife and daughter,” he shot back, getting annoyed. He decided not to mention remembering Zeke as it wasn’t helpful to the case.

Cassidy chuckled but quickly turned it into a cough when Rhy glared at her.

“Wow, it smells great.” Gabe nodded at the pizza, surprised that it wasn’t a lie. The tangy tomato sauce and cheese were an enticing combination. “Thanks for getting it.”

“It’s the least I can do,” Rhy said.

“I’d like to say grace.” Cassidy glanced at him as they took their seats around the small rectangular table. Rhy nodded and bowed his head. “Dear Lord Jesus, we ask You to bless this food, keep us safe in Your care, and guide us to the truth. Amen.”

“Amen,” he said, wondering why God answered some prayers but not others. He desperately needed his memory to return to save Travis. But so far, that particular prayer had gone unanswered.

“Amen,” Rhy echoed. “And as Roscoe would say, dig in.”

The three of them ate in silence for a few minutes. The pizza was loaded with the works, the way he liked it. When Rhy’s phone rang, he startled badly.

“It’s Ian,” Rhy said as if noticing his reaction. “I asked him to help.” Rhy answered the call. “Hey, Ian. I hope you have good news.”

Gabe understood why Rhy had gone to the FBI for help, but he couldn’t help feeling annoyed. The computer code was his problem. He should have been able to figure out what it was for as he’d obviously saved it for a reason.

Yet he also knew they needed all the help they could get to find Travis.

Rhy frowned, and his hopes for the latter plummeted. “Okay, Ian, I understand. Any help you can give us is appreciated. I’ll be in touch tomorrow.” He lowered the phone to the table. “Ian has no idea what the code is for, and he’s been reassigned to work on the mass shooting case from the mall. Apparently, the kid who did the shooting had been digging around in the dark web. Ian has been asked to follow the kid’s trail to find out more. The concern is that there’s some sort of network of kids who are chatting on the dark web about shooting as many people as possible. If there is something along those lines, it’s important to find it before anything else happens.”

“That’s understandable,” Cassidy said. “A bummer for us but understandable.”

“Yeah.” Rhy looked at him. “I want you to rest up so you can get back to work. I’m not kidding, Gabe, we need you.”

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