Daniel bolted upright on the sofa.
Dragging a hand over his face, he shook off the nightmare fog.
Mary Elise sat cross-legged on the floor beside him, hands in her lap, emerald eyes wide with worry. "Are you okay?"
He nodded, throat still too tight for talk. Swinging his boots to the floor with a thud, he braced his elbows on his knees and sucked in air, steadied his heartbeat. He kept his hands clasped between his knees rather than gathering Mary Elise hard against his chest to feel her warm and alive against him. "I'm fine."
"Bad dreams suck."
Leave it to Mary Elise not to let him dodge the issue by pretending. "Yep."
"You've had a lot on your plate lately, too, not just the boys, but losing your father, not even being able to make the memorial service for closure."
Death wasn't high on his list of topics for discussion, the word riding too hard on the heels of a time he'd thought Mary Elise might die. The doctor may have called it a routine, first trimester miscarriage. But the doctor hadn't been the one carrying her across the yard to the car while she cried in pain.
Daniel stared at his clenched hands and remembered the weight of Mary Elise in his arms. His father had met him at the emergency room, silent but there. Odd how he'd forgotten that part over the years. "I'll always regret that he and I didn't have a chance to talk."
"Life can change so fast. And when I think of how close I came to being in the car with him that day…"
Daniel's mind raced back to the present. "What?"
"I was supposed to be with your father the day he died. I had a doctor visit in town, but had to cancel it at the last minute because of an emergency teacher's meeting. Your father decided to take his wife along instead, make a day of it and see if they could start working though their problems."
Her words nailed him like relentless mortar rounds. How she should have been in the car. McRae's money transfer to Rubistan shortly before. Daniel blanked his face and prayed she wouldn't draw inferences. He should have known better.
All too soon, dawning horror stained her face. "You don't think? Kent couldn't have been responsible. Could he? Oh, God, Danny, please don't let me have caused your father's death."
Think before opening the yap, Baker.
He forced his mind to work, remember that she needed to be a part of whatever happened. A tough-as-hell thing to do when his instincts blared for him to lock her in the bathroom and barricade her there while he stood between her and the rest of the world.
"Stop looking for trouble, Mary Elise. Ammar makes the more likely suspect if my father's death wasn't an accident. Killing my father would give Ammar control over the widow, the boys and all their inherited money." His conscience kicked him, reminded him of Mary Elise's insistence on no more passive roles. Damn it, he just wanted to keep her safe. His conscience gave him another hefty punt. "But it's possible he could have been working with McRae."
"How so?"
"McRae has been funneling money into the Middle East underworld. The FBI has already been alerted."
"Terrorism?"
"That. And Rubistan is one of the largest suppliers of opium. There are any number of likelihoods. But yes. I think McRae tracked you. And I think it's possible he and Ammar hooked up." Daniel paused, ready to pull her close if she fell apart, wondered if he was a sick bastard for wanting the excuse to hold her.
Mary Elise blinked once, tears glinting but not falling, then nodded for him to continue.
"Regardless, I think Ammar was gunning for my father."
"And Kent would have found help even without Ammar."
"Exactly."
The glaze of tears disappeared, replaced by a different glint altogether. Suspicion. "When did you find out about the overseas transactions?"
Damn. "Yesterday."
"Last night?"
Baker, you are so busted. "Yesterday morning."
Silently she stood, walked away from him, made a freaking production out of straightening a stack of papers by the computers.