Chapter 3 #3
It was the perfect location for a typical business lunch. Dane and Shana followed to keep watch under cover. Cap helped Toly’s men watch the Big Shack for any of Max’s thugs left behind.
Shana sat opposite from him, but Dane recognized only her luscious lips. Her phone rang and she fished it from her oversized designer bag. Dane supposed it went with her outfit.
She said hello and listened. After a moment she mouthed the words ‘my mother’ to him. That wasn’t good news. He pretended to peruse the menu.
Shana was dressed as if she had just come from the Kentucky Derby.
A wide-brimmed hat with netting hid her face.
Her signature hair was invisible, arranged in a tight bun and tucked under the hat.
She wore a conservative navy suit two sizes too big and padded to fit.
Dane wore a moustache and glasses and a navy banker suit.
He glanced around the room, sweeping his eyes past the dining room entrance to check for signs of Max the Ax. He knew he would recognize the man.
Shana dropped her phone back in the bag and drummed her fingers on the menu.
“Mum will be arriving Saturday—the day after the wedding is scheduled. My brothers too.”
“Shit.” Dane spoke under his breath, but he was sure Ryan heard him. The son of a gun had the nerve to smile at his menu.
Shana adjusted her veil and said, “I’m not sure we’re going to fool Max the Ax with these get-ups. I have a feeling he’s a savvy guy.”
Ryan gave a subtle nod of agreement from three tables over where Dane could keep an eye on him from an angle.
“Don’t worry.” Dane spoke in a quiet voice into his ear bud mic, barely moving his lips. “It’s not necessarily a bad thing if Max thinks you have security. Hell, he’d probably think you were an idiot if you didn’t.”
“So if he calls me on it, I tell him?” Ryan mumbled. He clearly wasn’t comfortable communicating this way. Dane barely understood him.
“Sure. Tell him some bastard sent you a dead kitten and we’ll see how he reacts.”
Ryan looked up, surprised, then turned away quickly, catching himself.
“I thought we were expecting him to communicate directly with Anatoly—not through Murphy & Haley.”
“I don’t think Max cares who the messenger is as long as his arms deal gets set up. We only need to stall him long enough to catch him in the act.”
“You can’t do that.” Shana looked up at him from her menu. It wasn’t her usual annoyed scowl. There was determined anger in her look.
“We won’t put anyone in danger who isn’t already in danger. I’ve arranged for Paulette to be taken care of.”
“By who? Why didn’t I know this?”
“You were busy with the catering. Father Donahue and I made the arrangements. Paulette will be moved tomorrow.” He didn’t mention that he planned to move Lara too.
“What about the bride and groom?”
“Aren’t you worried about Toly?” Dane smiled. Tried not to smirk.
She simmered in silence.
Ryan coughed and bent to pick up his napkin while he spoke to them. “As fascinating as this exchange is—can we stay on task here? One step at a time.”
Dane glanced at Ryan as he straightened in his chair and then without looking directly at the entrance, he saw Max and his so-called assistant, Salvatore Cannelloni walk in. Max looked directly at him. Dane didn’t bother turning away and he didn’t bother acknowledging the man and his sidekick.
But Dane knew he’d been recognized and he knew the message had been delivered. Both ways. As intended.
He said to Shana, “It’s your mission when we get back to the island to convince Lara that she needs to send a decoy in her place to the church.”
Shana suppressed what Dane figured was a derisive snort and returned her gaze to the menu as if it had been written in an exotic dialect of Swahili that required extensive deciphering.
“Close your menu. Time to order.”
Dane waved the waiter over as Max and Sal sat with Ryan. Then he listened to Ryan’s conversation with Max the Ax.
The large man was well groomed and bald and wore spectacles. He had a beard but Dane couldn’t be sure if it was his or a fake. Maxim Xavier’s cohort, Salvatore Cannelloni scanned the diners with a not too subtle suspicion before taking his seat in between Ryan and Max, his boss.
Max spoke loud enough for Dane to hear clearly. “I see you hired the renowned operator Dane Blaise for security. Good choice. You must be afraid of something.”
Shana, threw her napkin on the table and was about to rise, but Dane stared her into submission. He watched her nostrils flare while she stared back and he listened for Ryan’s response after a beat of silence.
“It’s not me. It’s my pets I’m worried about,” Ryan said. Dane took a sip of water and glanced his way. Max studied Ryan and Sal looked directly back at Dane, lifting his glass in a pretend-friendly toast.
“Why put up with this charade,” Shana said, “Why don’t we go over there and—”
Dane spoke in a low voice and with a smile. “Because we want Ryan to handle this. We want them to deliver their message uninterrupted.”
“You want Ryan scared?”
“He can help you talk Lara into a decoy wedding.”
She nodded and they listened again after the waiter finished taking Sal’s order. No one else at their table bothered.
“I understand you changed the location of your wedding. I’m looking forward to it. I’ve always liked the Vineyard,” Max said.
“I’m looking forward to it too. But right now let’s talk business. What can our firm do for your company, Mr. Xavier?”
“We’re well past the formalities, Ryan. Call me Max.”
“You can call me Sal.”
Ryan waited for the answer to his question saying nothing, not even taking a sip of his water. Dane knew he was cool under pressure—had seen it back in the day at West Point. But in spite of that, he also knew Ryan was worried about his new family.
“I don’t need to go into details with you, but if you have any influence with your future father-in-law, I believe you can help me by encouraging him to reconsider a recent deal I offered him.
” Max snapped his fingers and Sal slipped an envelope from inside his jacket.
Ryan flinched slightly, but Dane doubted anyone else noticed.
“This is payment for your assistance in brokering the deal. It’s very generous. In honor of your upcoming marriage.” Max stood and Sal bumped his chair as he stood. Sal was too thick around the middle to pull off the move smoothly.
The envelope lay on the table. Ryan made no move to pick it up.
He didn’t stand either. Max said, “It’s a wonderful thing getting married, especially to such a beautiful wife with a beautiful baby girl.
If you help me with this deal I’m sure you’ll find your future more secure.
” Max picked up the envelope and held it out to Ryan, waiting.
Several ticks went by before Ryan put his hand out and took it.
He put it back down on the table and said nothing.
Max nodded and left the table. He and Sal walked by Dane and Shana but didn’t stop to chat. Dane sipped his lemon water as the pair exited the restaurant the way they’d come in.
Ryan stood then and came over to their table, tugged out the chair and fell into it, holding the envelope in one hand and raking his other hand through his hair.
“You’re lucky,” Dane said. He noticed the hand with the envelope had a slight tremor in it. “Max decided to play the carrot card today.”
“What choice did he have?” Shana said. “We’re in a public restaurant. But I doubt he’s going to wait long before he starts using the stick method of persuasion.”
“The way I see it,” Dane said, “You have until the wedding to find out.” Four days.
Ryan nodded. “His threat against Lara and Paulette and our upcoming wedding wasn’t exactly subtle.”
“Do you want me to talk to Toly?” Dane said the words quietly and seriously. He would only ask once. It was the one option no one spoke of, but he figured he’d put it on the table and then lay it to rest. They could ask Toly to cooperate with Max.
Ryan gave him a long look as if he weren’t sure how serious Dane was. Shana bit her lip, knowing exactly how serious he was.
“No. We can’t do it. One deal wouldn’t be the end of it. We have to stop these guys here and now. What do we do? Should we call the police?”
“That’s your call, Ryan. But what are you going to tell them?”
He shook his head.
Shana patted him on his envelope hand. Dane knew she was dying to see how much money was inside. She had an avaricious streak as wide as the white stripe on a skunk.
Ryan handed her the envelope. “You take this. Give it to Toly.” Ryan looked troubled. Of course.
“Let’s go.” Dane stood. “Toly would never let you call the cops. You’re doing the right thing working with us.”
“Maybe Toly could… I don’t know.”
“We’ll deal with it. I have a plan,” Dane said.
“You keep talking about your plan,” Shana said, “but I haven’t heard any of the details.”
They walked out of the restaurant through the lobby of the Parker House hotel across the hushed blood red carpet and through the heavy revolving door to the street. Dane looked around to see if he could spot whoever would be watching them. Because he knew someone would be. It was Max’s MO.
He took Shana in a hug and nuzzled her neck. She was smart enough to go along with him. Plus he knew for a fact she liked it. Scratch that. She loved it. He whispered close to her tantalizing soft earlobe. “You up for some evasive action?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
“Did you guys need a room?” Ryan stopped. They all stopped at the corner where there was a full line up of taxis in the stand. No one needed a ride on this gorgeous summer day in Boston.
“Let’s grab a cab. Ryan, you take the one behind us. Meet us at this address.” Dane handed him a card.
Ryan took it, looked a question, but after a beat he pocketed the card and headed for the second taxi. Dane swept Shana into the back seat of the first cab and closed the door behind them.
“Take us to sixteen Louisburg Square. By way of the Federal Court House,” Dane told the cab driver. He said to Shana, “May as well make our watcher nervous while we evade.”
“Is there a reason you’re taking us to David Young’s house? He’s the Director of Boston’s Scotland Yard Exchange Program. I think that qualifies him as law enforcement.”
“He’s a cop, but he’s a friend first. I might need his help to pull off my plan.”
“Where did you send Ryan?”
“To Grace Young’s interior design office. We’ll call him there.”
“Let me guess—Grace will spirit him out the back door and give him a lift back home in her car while he hides in the backseat.”
“You’re catching on.”
“What if the watcher follows Ryan inside?”
“He won’t get far.”
“What makes you think Ryan will get past security himself?”
“Good point. Call Grace now and have her call security. Tell them to expect Ryan Murphy.”
Shana looked out the window. “The Moakley courthouse should be on the tourist maps. It’s gorgeous.”
Dane leaned toward her, intoxicated by the proximity of her creamy neck, her chin, her mouth.
He said, “Maybe we’ll have our wedding there some day.”