Mary Elise dead.
The past and present merged in a blaze of reds—her hair, strawberries, blood. In the middle of the roaring fury, it hit him, why he'd run so hard from her eleven years ago. He hadn't run from commitment, or even from admitting how much she meant to him. Hell, he'd already realized now how damned much he loved her then. How much he loved her now.
He'd run because he was afraid of losing her.
And damned if he hadn't fallen right back into old patterns by picking a fight with her in the cabin. They'd almost replayed the past all over again—the mistakes forgivable in their youth but totally asinine now, given they should know better. Be stronger. Wiser.
Ah, hell. Love wasn't wise, either.
But love did make a person stronger. He just prayed it would make Mary Elise strong enough to stand down a madman until he could come forward with reinforcements.
Training overrode emotions. Crouching low, Daniel made his way around the perimeter of trees, dodging through whatever cover he could to work his way closer. He would have to take out McRae, but it would have to be fast.
Daniel assessed the terrain. Counted steps. Organized the plan of attack in his head.
He inched forward, eyes trained so firmly on McRae he almost missed the flash of movement to his left.
Pivoting, he brought his arm up to defend his face just as a knife came slashing down. Burned. Knocked the gun from his hand. "What the—"
"Where are they?" Ammar asked in heavily accented English, eyes wild with fanaticism. "Where are the boys?"
Mary Elise stepped deeper into the yard, prayed, inched another step, Kent subtly moving toward her every time she did. Closer to the buried bucket trap.
If only she could keep him talking. Good Lord, why had she never realized how much this man liked the sound of his own voice?"You still haven't unwrapped my gift, Mary Elise. How rude."
Her fingers convulsed around the crystal paperweight clenched in her fist, the paper crackling around it. No, she hadn't dared do anything after scooping it from the porch.
Was he trying to distract her so he could launch forward?
She locked her gaze with Kent's when she desperately wanted to look down for affirmation on the placement of the submerged spike trap.
God, she hoped her peripheral vision and memory were on target. She needed him disabled, couldn't risk him overpowering her, because heaven help her, she wasn't sure she could actually shoot him. "How about I check it out after you're in jail?"
"That's no fun." He tugged his tie back over his shoulder, tiny pelicans traipsing their pattern across blue silk. "Remember how much you enjoyed seeing me open this for my birthday? The bearer of gifts enjoys watching the receiver unwrap the present almost as much as selecting it." A slow smile crept across his face. "I enjoyed watching you find my other gift, the plant. You knew it was from me, didn't you?"
"You really are a twisted bastard." She willed her feet to adjust closer to the nearest bucket.
"And you're illogical. Old territory. Move on. Did you like the other gifts? The syringe? The fertility clinic flyer in Baker's mail?"
Flyer? Her mind winged back to the stack of junk mail in Daniel's condo on the coffee table, how he'd fidgeted with it after she'd told him about Kent.>The computer dinged behind him with incoming mail.
Damn. He'd wanted answers from Max, but why couldn't the guy have hit send on the e-mail five minutes prior and saved him from landing in this hellacious conversation? How many times did this woman have to shove the ring back in his face before he got the message?
Daniel jammed the solitaire in his pocket and opened the post from Max.
"Ammar has entered the U.S. Wren and I have the boys locked down and safe."
Trey and Austin's uncle in the States? Warning bells clanged in his mind, louder, until he realized they were merely an echo of the alarm from the security computer.
Someone had breached the first line of defense.
Chapter 16
Mary Elise stared at the security computer, monitor images of the yard still uninhabited except for gulls. Alarm silent now. Except for in her head where the alarm still blared and the memory of Daniel slipping off into the band of oaks and pines stayed imprinted.
Of course it made sense that she shouldn't go with him. She didn't have the training to move silently enough to stay undetected. She would be a liability to him out in the open.According to logical Danny, she should stay here, locked down tight behind a dead bolt with her loaded gun. Still, the situation chafed.
Nerves tangled into a snarl that rivaled her hair after a shower. Fear gummed the tangle to near unmanageable levels. Why had she wasted time arguing with Danny? Why couldn't she have waited to make her damned stand for independence—all because she was scared of taking a final step?