Chapter 15
“Where did all these cars come from?” Shana asked as she stepped from the limo.
Acer had pulled it up as tight against the back door of the church as he could.
The bright sunny day mocked her moroseness as she looked around with cold assessment.
Her nerves had finally calmed after a day spent pacing in between preparations, mostly consisting of her dressing up as Lara Bennett the bride.
“Remember my old girlfriend who works at the airport car rental?”
“Are you kidding? Why would she take that risk?”
“There was a lot of money in it for her—compliments of Toly.”
The presence of cars made the scene feel more real as she stood in her wedding gown, steps from the door.
Dane stood shielding her from the street, blocking her from view, sandwiched between the car and the church’s back entry.
She should go inside. But in spite of her icy resolve to go through with this, to catch Max the Ax one way or another, she needed to voice the small but dangerous wisp of doubt that kept circling through her head.
“What if he knows, Dane? What if he found out that this is a setup and not a real wedding? He could have found out.”
“We have a plan B.” He held her arm as she held her bouquet.
She touched the dark hair of her wig and looked down at her billowing white wedding gown. Maybe it was the dress that spooked her. Playing the part of a bride was tougher on her nerves than it ought to be.
“Get inside. I’ll be in soon. After I check the perimeter.”
Dane hoped—with far too large a part of his heart and soul—that Max the Ax would never show up today.
He didn’t care why or how the man might find out about their sting—hoped he’d blow town and give up on his fight with Toly.
He knew better. There was nothing more stubborn than a greedy Russian tough guy.
Except maybe his excessively violent Italian sidekick.
Before he let her go, in that instant of hesitation, Dane closed his eyes and breathed deep, taking in her scent, her essence. The heady feeling stayed with him when he opened his eyes. He used it to focus himself this time, instead of letting it throw him off balance.
She left his arms, left his side and the circle of his protection. He steeled his jaw and turned his attention to the perimeter. Taking what he hoped looked like a leisurely stroll, he spoke to Acer through his earbud mic.
“Can you see me?”
“Clear as day. You look sharp in that suit.”
“Shut up.” He kept walking to make sure there were no gaps in the cameras hidden strategically around the property.
“Hurry it along—we need to turn on the motion sensors while the coast is clear,” Cap said.
Dane smiled. Then glanced at Cap standing at the front door of the church in a crisp gray linen suit.
The only thing about him that hinted at the state police captain underneath was the mirrored sunglasses hiding his eyes.
Dane figured they were mocking him. He walked up the steps to stand with Cap.
“How many feds inside?” he asked.
“About fifty. The number of invited guests.”
“Impressive.”
“They’re not fooling around. They got some chatter last night about something big going down with the terrorist cell involved in Max and Sal’s deal.”
A mild stab hit him between the shoulder blades at the reminder of the high-stakes. He didn’t bother asking what or how big. They probably didn’t know the details.
“Time to go inside,” Dane said. The two turned and pushed open the doors.
Inside the entry vestibule stood Shana. In a wedding gown with the veil covering her face and Toly standing at her side.
When the flutter went through his gut it made him feel like a girl.
His adrenaline pumped like it always did as a mission heated up, but there was an edge to this one.
It could be the bridal theme, or it could be that Shana was playing bait, but the combination was wreaking havoc with his normally steely nerves.
Dane nodded at Toly and Shana in turn, then followed Cap as he walked down the aisle.
He inspected the crowd as he went, looking for Max and Sal.
Before he spotted either of them, he noticed Cap tense up.
Dane glanced where Cap had been looking and sure enough, on the groom’s side of the aisle about halfway down, Max sat at the end of the pew with Sal next to him, kneeling and looking like he might even be praying for his sorry lost-cause ass.
The relief was automatic but Dane immediately raised his guard.
He was betting the church wouldn’t be shot up with those two inside.
To make sure he’d be locking the doors within a minute of the ceremony’s start.
Even he and Cap wore covert body armor, a lightweight thin version of the standard bullet-proof vest with an NIJ level II ballistic rating.
He and Cap reached the front of the church where Father Donahue and Ryan Murphy stood.
Dane recognized a few other faces in the crowd including FBI Special Agent Cutie in a bridesmaid dress standing to the side and Special Agent Derek Smith sitting in the front row with his Homeland Security pals Croft and Tims. Croft spoke into an earbud mic and the wedding march sounded.
Everyone stood and faced the back of the church where the doors were closed.
Dane zoomed in on Max and found him speaking into his cell phone, then he shut it down in an instant and shoved it back in his pocket and looked to the back of the church expectantly like everyone else.
There was no such thing as a casual phone call at this juncture of a wedding, in Dane’s mind.
He spun all the possibilities through his mind in an instant and came up with nothing but bad things.
Outside he could hear a noise, something rotating, growing closer.
As the wedding march played to the end of the introductory stanza and the audience’s anticipation was at its apex, Dane ran to the side door and slammed through it, landing outside in time to see exactly what he’d been expecting. Exactly what he did not want to see.
A helicopter landed on the front lawn of the church and several men jumped out.
A white flower delivery panel van pulled from the parking lot and around front.
Dane didn’t need any more invitation than that and he gave the SOS signal through his earbud as he ran alongside the church, pulling his Glock from its holster.
Shana heard the wedding march begin as expected, but the next thing she heard, though it shouldn’t have been unexpected, still surprised her. The sound of the helicopter made her and Toly look at each other and brace themselves for the worst.
“You need to go, Toly.” Shana shoved him toward the door to go inside the sanctuary where he’d be out of the way and less accessible. He was wearing body armor but if they wanted to kill them, Shana knew they would go for the head shot. They were pros.
“What about you—I don’t like this—”
“It’s the plan, Toly. Get inside the damn doors and take cover under a pew as soon as you reach the back aisle.”
They heard shouts now. The sounds of men offloading from the copter.
Then there was the sound of a fast-moving vehicle coming to a screeching halt.
She pushed Toly through the door and closed it.
Then, standing in the vestibule alone, she turned to the large wood church doors.
She heard the sound of men pounding up the stairs, barely above the sound of the pounding in her heart.
She waited for them to come to get her, but she forced herself to act like a bride about to walk down the aisle, half turned and poised to go inside the church.
Dane reached the corner of the building to see men in what looked like full SWAT gear running up the stairs to go inside.
There were four of them and three more behind them watching their rear and the street.
And the last one was in the van with the motor running.
The copter was up and away. Max had taken no chances with this operation.
He used the copter in case there were any roadblocks and to get an aerial visual on security.
“We passed the eye test. Now let’s hope their guard is down and they don’t have plans to shoot up the church,” Dane spoke into his earbud while he kept out of sight. He looked back and saw Derek following up to his rear.
When he turned back he watched the lead man kick the church door open. Just before the man disappeared inside he saw something in his right hand. It was not a gun. His heart stopped and literally missed a beat.
“Shit.” This was not something they’d planned for.