long, still moment, with the tension still high in the room, Dani conceded. Her body rigid and her movements jerky, she gave Ty a look, daring him to say something, then left. Ty turned his attention to Drew who slammed a file on the desk and planted a fist on his hip. Running a hand through his hair, the team director let out a litany of curses. Ty's lips tilted into a smile—no wonder everyone else vacated the room as soon as Drew first issued his order.
“Anything I can do, sir?” Ty asked. He should have kept the half smile to himself but he couldn't help it. It's not that the situation was funny, but the way Dani could set Drew off was comical—from the outside. Maybe it was a good thing they hadn't brought him into their little circle.
Drew whipped his head up, ready for a fight, and glared at Ty. When Ty didn't so much as bat an eyelash or twitch a muscle, Drew's shoulders sagged and he took a deep breath. “I swear to god, if this job doesn't kill her, one of these days I will,” he said with a rueful shake of his head. “But I imagine you have a good idea of how difficult Dani can be,” he added with a glance at Ty.
Ty opted not to respond. “Let me know if there is anything I can do,” he offered again, as he reached for his files.
“Yeah, go make sure she gets on the plane to San Diego, will you?” Drew responded. Ty stilled, mid-reach. Was Drew kidding?
“And if you tell her I sent you, you'll regret it. Trust me,” Drew gave him a pointed look.
Well, shit. He wasn't kidding. Drew wanted him to ‘handle’ Dani. He studied Drew's face, wondering if he'd done this before, if he'd asked any of her lovers—not that he fit that profile at the moment—to ‘handle’ her. Something about the bald honesty in Drew's expression answered his question. No, Drew had never asked anyone else to do something like this. That he thought Ty would be able to was an interesting development.
Ty nodded, dropped the file and headed to Dani's room.
* * *
Dani grabbed her duffel and tossed it on her bed. Flinging open her closet door, she took out her frustration on the clothes she grabbed at random and threw on the bed. Damn him. While everything Drew said about Adam was true, he did have field experience, good field experience, she also knew that wasn't the reason Adam was going to Miami. Adam was going to Miami because Drew didn't want to send her.
Rummaging through the pile of clothes, Dani grabbed a few t-shirts and shoved them into her bag. She wanted to throw something—something more substantial than a pair of pants. It was the second time in the past two days that Drew had hinted she might screw up the investigation. First with Ty and now with not letting her go to Miami to follow Sonny—the man she believed might, just might, be able to give her a lead on who killed her parents.
She grabbed a book off the bedside table and a photo slid to the ground. Bending to pick it up, she glanced at the scene. It was familiar. Too familiar.
It was a photo taken of Sonny's father. The man had been shot execution-style and was lying face down on a blood-stained carpet. Dani sank onto her bed and stared at the photo. The picture was gruesome but it wasn't the picture that made Dani deflate—it was the memories it conjured.
What would she do if Sonny was the link to her own past? What would she do if she went to Miami and found out Sonny knew the man who killed her parents, the man she believed also killed Sonny's father? What would she do if she saw him?
Christ, she realized Drew was right and her heart slammed in her chest at the thought. She'd be down there with no backup, no support. It would be bad, not for the investigation but for her. Drew was protecting her. Like he always did. Since those days when she'd relived her parents' murders, crying on Drew's shoulder, he'd always looked out for her. It should bug her; she knew she should insist she could take care of everything, but Dani wasn't one to lie to herself. If she saw the man again, she didn't know how she would react, how she would hold up. It