Chapter 10 #3
Same thing if Shana was identified. Hadn’t she considered this before she ran.
He spotted her fast-walking to his left past some shops.
No foot traffic around this time of day, this time of year.
Slipping on his sunglasses, He followed her without running.
Cars passed them by without notice. If he chased her down and caught her, he figured they might do more than notice.
Someone might call the cops. So he was patient.
He’d catch up to her at some point, when she got to wherever the hell she was going.
Then it hit him. He knew where she was going.
F—ck.
Should he bother following her to Vendi? If she really wanted to be with Vendi right now, should he stop her?
Hell, yes.
She was his fiancée. No matter if she was angry with him right now. No matter if he’d betrayed her trust.
That thought stopped him as he watched her cross the street and head right for the USCG building on the harbor.
He continued to watch, leaning against the wall of a coffee shop while a car parked and a few people got out and went in the shop.
She was at the door of the building and he didn’t blink his eyes.
Before she opened it, she turned over her shoulder and looked in his direction.
He knew she was looking at him. He didn’t flinch.
Waited for her to make her decision. Prayed to god she would change her mind.
Her hand rested on the door handle for a beat. Then two. Then she dropped it.
Dane breathed, squeezed his eyes shut and felt a shudder of released tension ripple through him.
He didn’t deserve her, but there was no way in hell he would give her up.
He knew he would have gone after her if she’d gone inside and didn’t even want to contemplate what that would have meant for Vendi. For them both.
As it was, Shana stood for a few more beats before slowly making her way back to him. Her reluctance should have unnerved him, but Dane was too grateful to worry about that. He eyed the coffee shop. It was a new shop, new owners and he made a snap decision as Shana approached.
Pushing himself from the wall, he met her when she reached him, with an arm reaching out and pulling her in. He held her close to him, not saying a word, just breathing in her scent, taking in her essence. She didn’t say a thing either, but he felt her tension and needed to deal with it.
He released his hold a little and whispered into her lush now red hair, “Let’s have coffee.”
She glanced up at him startled. He could see the spark in her eyes even through the shades.
“No one will know us here. We’ll sit in the back.”
“We’ll stick out like alligators in a petting zoo,” she said. But she went with him.
Before they sat down at the table against the back wall in the long narrow shop, his phone buzzed. It was probably Joe wondering where the hell he was. He checked the screen to confirm Joe’s number, but it was Cap.
“Damn.”
“Cap?” she guessed. He gave her an appreciative smile then and felt right about them, at least in that fleeting moment, they were in sync.
Then he put the phone to his ear.
“What is it?”
“Did you catch the press conference?”
“Yeah. What do you want? Applause? Well done.”
“Asshole. We didn’t spot Nash. I had everyone looking. There was a sighting of someone who could have been Eli Hughes, but not close enough to bring him in. Lost sight before they could get a handle. Any news about Sassy Stevens?”
“No. We’re doing reconnaissance at midnight.”
“I’ll send some men— “
“No. Don’t.”
“You do realize it’s not your call?” Cap’s wasn’t speaking in his usual easy going voice.
“True. But I’d always assumed you were smart and decent for a statie. Not a peckerhead. You know her chances of survival with police interference plummet to zilch.”
Dane heard a few beats of heavy breathing and knew it was anger seething below Cap’s surface.
“What’s your problem, Cap?” He had an inkling that he knew.
“I don’t like any of this. I don’t like that you’re acting like some vigilante, that Shana’s involved— “
“Woe there.” Dane had been speaking quietly, his voice obscured among the general chatter and clatter of the shop, but this conversation felt like it was about to get out of hand.
“Since when am I a vigilante? I’m doing the same thing I’ve always done.
I didn’t go looking for this, Cap. Whitey came and blew up my house. ”
“Trouble always finds you.”
“Nothing new. So why the sudden attitude?”
“You should have stayed in Boston. Should have let me handle this. It would have kept Shana out of danger.”
“Are you shitting me? You think if I stayed that would have stopped her?” He looked at Shana now, without the shades.
She met his eyes in a hard stare, confirming what he was telling Cap.
She’d been leaning close, listening to the conversation.
He wasn’t sure how much she heard. They both waited for Cap’s response to this.
“You could have managed. If you tried. You’ve always been proactive let’s say, in law enforcement without the badge. But this time you’ve let your need to play hero cloud your judgment. You let her put herself in danger— “
Shana snatched the phone from Dane’s hand so fast, even with his lightning reaction, he didn’t catch her wrist until the phone was to her ear and she was hissing her response to Cap.
“Cap, I appreciate your concern, but it’s misplaced. Contrary to what you both think, I’m my own person and I make my own decisions. I’m perfectly capable of handling this. It’s no different than any other— “
“You’re wrong, Shana,” Cap said. Dane heard the emotion in his voice loud and clear. It was in that second that he realized the depth of feelings Cap held for Shana. He felt his temperature shoot up, surprise and alarm made his gut churn. What the hell?
Holding the confusion of emotions in check, he leaned in close to touching heads with Shana to listen.
“This is far more dangerous to you personally from everything we’ve found out. You should leave the island. If you don’t, you should let the police handle this.”
“You know if I did that it would endanger Sassy,” Shana spoke calmly, with empathy. She was the best person he knew. She understood and responded like a loving friend. Dane felt like the undeserving bastard that he was more keenly as she continued.
“You know Dane’s doing what he always does. He’ll have my back. We have Joe and Ronnie— “
“That’s right—you have a whole crew of vigilante’s there to save you when it should be law enforcement’s role.”
And there it was. Cap wanted to be Shana’s hero. Underneath everything.
Dane’s eyes met Shana’s and a flash of understanding passed between them. She’d recognized it too.
“You do have a role, she said. You played it beautifully this morning by the way. We’ll be counting on you at the funeral tomorrow. Between us we’ll get Nash and Hughes and save Sassy unharmed.”
There was a beat of silence and then Cap spoke gruffly. “I hope you’re right. I’ll do my part.” Then he hung up.
Dane wondered why he’d called in the first place, if there’d been something else he’d had to tell them, any intel on Whitey or word from Australian authorities. He’d need to call him back later to find out. But there would be a layer of discomfort now, a layer of concern.
Damn. Damn. Damn.
“Don’t worry about Cap,” Shana said. She spoke with confidence if not comfort.
“Why would I?” He challenged her.
She snorted. “He’s still Cap. He has our back.”
“Then how do you explain the vigilante cracks? As if he suddenly has a problem with us?”
“He’s always had a problem with you. But his admiration for you has always more than made up for his issues with you.”
She didn’t say until now. But he heard it loud and clear.
F—ck.
Cap didn’t think he was doing a good enough job protecting Shana. Or maybe it was his own conscience talking. Probably both.
In spite of the side-long glances from a few of the other customers. They finished their coffee in silence and managed to escape the coffee shop without being identified or spoken to aside from the young man behind the counter who’d served them.
It was noon by the time they arrived back at the alley behind the Lucky Parrot.
Twelve hours until their excursion to check on Sassy’s basement to hopefully find her there alive and well.
Exhaustion from the tension coiled relentlessly inside him.
Dane was grateful for the time they would all have to rest and restore themselves.
Even more grateful that Shana would be with him.
If it wasn’t for Ronnie’s pleading eyes, Shana might not have relented. But she knew he was right. Knew they were all right. She shouldn’t go with them to Sassy’s house. They didn’t know what they’d find and had to assume it was a trap meant for her.
“No more than forty-five minutes or I’m coming after you,” she said. “That gives you fifteen to get there, fifteen back and fifteen to pick up a conversation. That’s it.”
“You talk like you’re in charge of—”
She cut him off. “It’s my ass he’s after, I know him, so yes, you better believe this is my show.”
Joe raised a brow. He never said much and she wasn’t sure if she liked that about him or not. Ronnie nodded, but she was focused on Dane’s hard stare.
“We’ll be back in forty-five.” His voice was mild, but she wasn’t fooled. He didn’t like it that she’d threatened to come after him. He was trying so hard to keep her under wraps.
“But don’t expect me to salute you.” He threw the line over his shoulder as he stepped up the cement stairs to the bulkhead doors that led to the back alley.
He was dressed all in black and looked like a cat burglar.
A very buff cat burglar, full of sinewy muscle and dauntless attitude.
Joe and Ronnie followed, all carrying small packs on their backs with the tools of their spy trade.