Chapter 14
“How?” O’Keefe asked.
The sun was setting. A sliver of the fading light came through the far door. Dane looked at David and O’Keefe. “You stay behind. Acer can take Oscar, Shana and me back in his bird.” He turned to Acer for confirmation.
“We’re all set. We we’ll be able to take most of the cargo—”
“We should leave the weapons behind for David and O’Keefe.
They may need them. They’ll make themselves visible and leave a message without seeming to leave it purposely.
They’ll make sure Floyd and Tavares both think we have the goods on them, that David and O’Keefe have been left behind to babysit them and the rest of us went stateside to turn in a report.
We’ll say that we’re expecting the CIA and ATF will be coming back to get them. ”
“How about we hint to Tavares that we’re planning to get Floyd to trade evidence on them in exchange for a lighter sentence?” Shana said. “Isn’t that how the feds do things?”
Dane nodded. He got that hot burst of pleasure in his gut that rose through his throat like a magic bubble.
He’d swear it was pride and hoped to hell it didn’t show on his face.
Shana should be the last person to know he felt pride on her behalf—he had no right.
Evidently his heart didn’t care about rights.
David said, “It sounds wonderful. How do you propose we go about it?”
“We know where Tavares lives and we have Floyd’s number. I suggest the direct route. Go where you know they’ll see you—get them to follow you. Check in at a hotel and leave something behind that they can decipher. Like the imprint of a note on a pad of paper or something—don’t make it too tough.”
“How about if we leave a cell phone behind?” O’Keefe said.
“Too obvious,” David said. “And the note on a pad of paper is too obvious.”
“Leave the phone in the trash with some texts on it and take the battery out. Let them put a battery in it and find out that way. Not a no-brainer but not too difficult. Make sure they know we’re headed back to Martha’s Vineyard and have an appointment with the governor in forty-eight hours to make a report for a case.
Mention that the governor is out of town for forty-eight hours and that he’s our boss on this and is in contact with the CIA,” Dane said.
“And we play it that we’re still here watching them?” David asked.
“Works for me,” O’Keefe said.
Dane nodded around the room. He got to Shana, who had her game face on. He didn’t know what she was thinking and it was as unusual as it was uncomfortable for him.
“It’s a plan then.” He addressed Shana, “Unless you have any objections or anything to add?”
She smiled one of those self-satisfied gotcha smiles—probably because she enjoyed causing him discomfort.
“No,” she said and went back to her game face.
Oscar moved to stand almost between Dane and Shana and said, “I forgot how masterful you are at planning, Mr. Legend. You were a good second in command to the general back in the day, I’m sure.”
“Second to Peter John Douglas?” Acer grinned. “Don’t let him hear you say that. It be the truth—but one of those unspoken truths,” he added.
Shana avoided his glance now. He could feel some kind of rosy heat emanating from her. Wouldn’t it be ironic if it were that same kind of unearned pride he felt about her? More likely it was irritation at the legend reference.
“Never mind. Let’s file out.” Dane said. “David, take Acer’s truck and stay at the Sol Ipanema Hotel on the beach. It’s not far from the Tavares, Inc. office.” Dane dropped back behind Acer and Shana. He stood in the door blocking David and O’Keefe behind him and turned to talk to David.
“Get the message to the Tavares family that Floyd helped us escape back to the United States—that he gave us advance warning that their men were coming after us so we could get away untouched.” Dane took a deep breath. “Extra insurance to sow dissension between them.”
“Our priority is Floyd Parker over the Tavares organization then,” David said.
“Like Shana said, the Tavares family has other people prioritizing them. Floyd has us. And we are not going to let him go.”
“I’m with you,” David said. O’Keefe nodded.
Then all three of them proceeded outside.
Dane wasn’t sure about O’Keefe, but he was counting on David Young to keep his friend on mission.
He joined the others in Acer’s helicopter.
Dane squeezed in next to Shana with Oscar up front and watched David and O’Keefe climb into the truck and leave.
Acer went through his takeoff checklist. Once the rotors whooped to life, Dane put on the headphones in front of him, but no one was talking.
They were short a pair of headphones and Shana went without.
Dane put his arm around her. She didn’t pull away.
Maybe she couldn’t pull away. He decided he could afford to take shameless advantage for the duration of their trip.
Once they returned to the beach shack, reality would hit them hard with the shambles of the shack and their relationship.
For now, they were suspended above it all, apart from the real world.
Flying through the air where he could enjoy the warmth of this woman and not worry about anything. He closed his eyes.
*****
“You can lie against me,” he mouthed. She read his lips.
He made the suggestion seem simple, normal, and reasonable.
The frog-like jump in her chest was not reasonable.
But it was all too normal a reaction for her since she’d met Dane.
In the year she’d been with him on and off, her palpitations hadn’t relented.
The frenzy of excitement she felt was like an electrical short circuit. It had grown more intense with time, if anything. Like right now.
Shana’s excitement went to waste within five minutes of leaning into Dane’s hot hard comforting wall of muscle. She felt him relax into sleep, felt his warm moist breath against the back of her neck. For now, she decided, things could be simple between them and she rested.
*****
All Dane’s senses awoke with a flood of sensual stimuli dominated by the soft feel of Shana’s curves, the scent of her hair, the tickling of her hair against his face.
His first urge was to pull her closer against him.
The best part of him was ready—but the sound of Oscar calling his name shut down the urge.
At the same time, Shana moved away and stretched. He pressed his back against the door and felt the hard, cold metal against his back and the cool air around him. The ache in his thumb and the soreness in his jaw exploded along with aches and pains in every muscle and joint in his body.
They landed shortly afterward and he felt like a kid on his way to an exam he was unprepared for. They were returning to the beach shack. The shot-up wreck of his home. Courtesy of Floyd and Tavares.
As he got out of the Jeep, still working the kinks out of his achy beat up body, the acknowledgment of Floyd’s hate—and the reason for it—left Dane with a shadow of discomfort.
He walked across the crushed shell drive to the back door.
Deep down Dane was counting on Floyd being desperate enough, crazy enough and full of enough hate to try taking him down on his home turf.
He was right. He was convinced of it.
The rest of the crew, including Shana, walked behind him, letting him take the lead.
He could feel the heat of her eyes on him, her presence pushing him forward.
How much of the homey feeling was the shack’s refuge and how much of it was about Shana sharing it with him, even if she rarely shared his bed? There was always the possibility…
Remembering the way he’d left the shack, ripped apart and strewn with the debris of their daily lives, Dane stopped.
He took a bracing breath of sea air before taking the two steps and pushing the back door open.
A jolt of surprise, followed by a mix of suspicion and pleasure hit him. The place was immaculate.
Acer said, “Cap had a couple of friends of yours come by to clean up.”
“Don’t tell me—the pie girl and the kid?”
Acer nodded and said, “Cap called Sassy and Ronnie Ryan in before we left. Cap was the only one not cursing you out and happy to leave the place a mess.”
Shana crowded in the door behind him and saw Cap. She blew out a whistle.
“What the hell?” Her million-dollar smile made him shudder, raising goose bumps of promise and trepidation along his arms. He held his arms still.
“Cap,” she said and rushed into his open arms. Cap squeezed her in a bear hug. Dane turned away.