Backblast by Candace Irving (brene brown rising strong .TXT) 📗

not. We could not. And now—" The man fisted his palms as though for support as he swallowed hard, then continued. "—he is dead."

"Do you know who killed him and why?"

"No. But Stephen feared this outcome. He called me."

"From Al Dhafra?"

"Yes. He told me I should be prepared. That things were not as they seemed at the embassy. People were not as they seemed. He said that if something should happen to him, I was to take my wife and son and leave Pakistan. Disappear. He believed that soon it might not be safe here…for anyone. After you visited earlier, Inaya called me to tell me that Stephen was dead. I knew then that what he feared had come to pass. I begged Inaya to leave with me. I told her it would be safer for the boy if we left without him, appearing to abandon Danyal to my brother for a time. She told me she would consider my plans, so I went to my brother's house to begin to make the arrangements."

Not only did the micro-expressions in Aamer's face back up his words, so had his actions this evening. According to the intel John had received via Ty, Aamer had followed up his bank appointment with a visit to his brother's house. His older brother's house.

That relationship was everything to a Pakistani man.

Aamer's nod confirmed it. "Imran is the head of our family. I wanted him to understand why we would be disappearing, to assure him that it was not my choice…and ask that he and my sister care for my son in my stead and to find a way to send Danyal to us once he was well. My brother agreed. I left the hospital again a short while ago and returned to my brother's home to complete the arrangements and to sign the necessary papers so that he could make medical and financial decisions for my son."

Except Aamer was here, not finalizing those arrangements. Especially with the riots and the rest of Brandt's prediction playing out.

"Mr. Sadat, why did you return to the hospital?"

Aamer's palms came up as he sighed. "Danyal. Though I did not father him, he is my son. I thought I could do as Stephen requested. But while I trust my brother, I find I cannot go without Danyal. And, now, with this new illness that has befallen him, Inaya will not leave him either—and I cannot abandon her. You must understand; Inaya and I grew up in the same village. She knows what I am, yet she married me anyway. It is true; her family was poor, so they asked no questions. But she knew I must have a wife to have the job I wanted. She has been the best of companions. And so, when she fell in love, I did not stand in her way, just as she did not stand in mine. All I asked was that she be discreet and not leave me. Given her lover's career, and his family connections and obligations, she knew Crier would not want more than the affair. Danyal was a blessing both of us would have once her lover—and mine—moved on."

"Does anyone know about your wife and Tom Crier?"

"No." The man was adamant.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because they met at our house. He always arrived to discuss 'embassy business' and I was always there in another room so that no one would ever suspect."

Aamer was right. It was a solid cover.

But not infallible.

If no one had figured out what was going on and Brandt wasn't being blackmailed over the boy's paternity, but because the man was gay…had Crier truly killed his own son to sanitize his trail? If so, surely Crier would have infected Aamer and Inaya along with the boy? Or was some other catastrophe due to befall Danyal's parents? But, if so, why not wait and include the boy?

Damn it. This case still made no sense.

Yet.

"Mr. Sadat, Staff Sergeant Brandt killed a prisoner in his charge. Brandt deliberately murdered him. With poison."

Shock stiffened Aamer's entire body. He stepped toward her, stopping short as she sensed John's form shifting slightly—decisively—behind her.

Aamer shook his head. "No. He would not do this. Yes, Stephen was a soldier, but he was the gentlest of men. He could not—"

"The man Brandt killed was responsible for the slaughter of those pregnant women in that cave in the Hindu Kush. The one on the news tonight. Captain McCord did not kill those women or their babies, an Afghan translator did. And not only did Brandt murder the translator, he did it while he was aboard the ship—after he spoke to you from Al Dhafra. I found his prints on a vial containing the remaining poison. A vial that was hidden in a doctored pack of Pakistani cigarettes that also bore only his prints."

Aamer stepped backward at that. Staggered really, until his spine hit the wall.

Regan was half afraid the man was so dumbfounded he was going slide all the way down.

He didn't. But Aamer did use the wall for support as he nodded. "To avenge what I saw on the news? That, Stephen might want to kill for. But I still cannot believe he would."

"What if he was being blackmailed—about his relationship with you?"

If the Marine Corps had learned of the staff sergeant's secrets, Brandt would've been court-martialed. Not because he was gay, but for a host of other violations under the Uniformed Code of Military Justice, including the fact that indulging in an affair with a married Pakistani Foreign Service National had left Brandt open for blackmail while he was serving as a Marine Security Guard at a critical US embassy. Blackmail which, by extension, had risked the security of that embassy and his nation.

Also, while Brandt might not have been willing to murder to save his own career, gentle man or not, she suspected he'd have done it in a heartbeat to save Aamer. Because his lover's career hadn't just been on the line,