Chapter 5
Back at the shack, Dane’s mood took a dip when he found himself entertaining a crowd at a time when all he wanted to do was be alone with Shana to make her forget about the truce, to spark up some romance.
“Tell me what David had to say,” Cap said. He was the only one drinking coffee.
“He’s looking into things but he’ll keep it quiet. For now.”
Shana said, “He’s going to want a daily report. By phone. That’s his way.” She knew because she had once reported to David during her stint for Scotland Yard. Until Dane had lured her away.
He hadn’t known they’d be locked in this perpetual war of wills. He’d said no truce was possible and she wanted to prove him wrong. Yet it didn’t feel like another skirmish, one of their usual competitions.
His theory was that all this wedding planning might make her soft and sentimental.
Might make her think about her priorities.
He wasn’t going to be able to test his theory that afternoon.
Maybe it was better that way. He’d be playing a dangerous game playing the wedding card in order to tug at Shana’s emotional vulnerability.
Hell, the notion of a wedding had damn well played havoc with his emotions—his brain too.
A bang on the screen door of the kitchen distracted Dane from his ruminating about Shana. He turned and looked. Then he laughed. Instead of calling it in, Acer decided to walk back from the Big Shack with his report in person.
“You got any more of that Patron in your freezer?” He grinned and stepped into the kitchen waving a folder in front of Dane’s face. “I deserve it. I found the connection.”
Acer joined Shana at the dining room table where she tapped on the old keyboard to their secure computer.
She stopped and stood up and gave the man a hug in greeting.
Dane’s chest pinched a tiny bit when Acer stole a kiss.
The bastard had done it on purpose to annoy him.
Or maybe not. Dane couldn’t exactly blame any man for wanting to kiss Shana.
One look at her face, and her mouth and it was all a man could think about until it was done.
“Let me see what’s in that folder. You’re going low tech with a paper file?” Shana opened it and studied it as she spoke.
“This one needed extra security. Can’t trust the Internet. Can’t trust the mail. So I decided to hand deliver my secrets to keep them that way.”
“What’s this about?” Dane had no trouble pushing aside his pathetic longing for a woman, who would never be his, to pay attention now. Acer never went to this trouble to keep a secret secure.
“Max has a new associate.”
“We met him. Short Italian guy named Salvatore—”
“Cannelloni. Bad news.”
“Aren’t they all?”
“This one is selling to known terrorist cells in the Middle East. Homeland Security has him on a list and—”
“Don’t tell me—they’re watching him. Right now.” Dane squelched a shiver as his gut froze and his chest tightened.
Acer nodded. He hadn’t bothered to sit. Dane took the bottle of Patron from the freezer and handed it to him.
There were glasses out on the table. One in front of Ryan and the other at Shana’s elbow.
Acer took one of the other two that had been reserved for Dane and Cap and filled it.
As was his habit, he drank it down in one swallow.
Shana stood. She looked agitated, with a crease between her brows carved liked he’d never seen before. The folder was clutched in her hand.
Dane said, “They’re here now.”
Acer swiped his mouth with the sleeve of his forearm and nodded.
“Homeland Security is watching everyone. You. Shana. Even Cap.”
“And most especially Anatoly Ivanov,” Dane said.
“Bingo.” Acer made a gunshot gesture with his forefinger and thumb.
“You have a name?”
“The man in charge is Trevor Croft. You know him?”
“Only by reputation,” Dane said. “He’s known for his personal ambition. And family money. Find out more.”
“Already on it. I have one of my minions putting together a file.”
Dane snapped around, “What the hell? This is a black—”
“Don’t worry. I should refer to him as a minion. He’s my son.”
That stopped Dane mid-stride. Cap’s coffee cup clattered onto the table and he stood.
“This isn’t the time or place to get into it, but congratulations—I think,” Dane said.
He studied his friend and wondered what other secrets Acer had.
They’d always suspected Acer had a secret wife and family somewhere, but this was the first time he’d shared any details.
He was a thoroughly careful man, keeping the likes of this band away from those he needed to protect. Dane couldn’t blame him.
Acer flashed a beaming smile and nodded.
“Come with me,” Dane said. “We need to focus hard on Homeland Security and their interest in us and our client.”
He circled back into the kitchen. He glanced at the Patron, but he didn’t pick up the bottle. His head was clear and buzzing and he didn’t want to—couldn’t afford to slow it down.
They were all in trouble now.
The stakes just went from high to impossible.
“Why would they be looking at us? They know us.” Shana said.
He could hear the bravado in her voice. Acer looked at him to explain it.
Dane forced himself back into that mold of granite that he’d used all his professional life—and a good chunk of his private life—to keep all his emotions under wraps, to keep cool and calm and control the fear.
“Toly hired us. As far as they know he’s supplying Max and Sal and they’re supplying a terrorist cell. Homeland Security will squeeze us. Work back up the chain.”
She opened her mouth and said nothing. Stared at him with a look of someone trying to find something wrong with what they just heard, trying to make it come out differently.
Dane said, “We are about to go to work for Homeland Security. And not for pay.”
Acer grunted. “Not unless you consider escaping a jail sentence or worse, escaping a stint at Guantanamo, as payment for the job.”
“Shit,” Shana finally said. Then she looked at him, eyes luminous, “What about Toly? They won’t—”
“They will. I’d bet money on it.”
“We should call the governor,” Acer said.
“No. We’re not dragging him into this.”
“Double shit,” Shana said. “We’ve already dragged David Young into it.”
Dane frowned. “We’ll need to back him out. Hope they weren’t paying close attention.”
“There’s a chance we have some juice. Ex-special ops with connections.” Acer said.
“I’m afraid the only connection they’re paying attention to right now is the one to Toly and his connection to Murphy & Haley and Maxim Xavier and his stinking partner Salvatore Cannelloni.”
“We have to call Toly.” Shana said.
Dane put his finger to his mouth. They were going to need to be extra careful. He nodded at Acer. Acer nodded back. He would go over the house and check for all manner of electronic surveillance within a hundred yards.
“I left my bags out in the rental car,” Acer said, “I’ll go get them now.”
Dane watched Acer leave then turned to Shana. She came to him, fit her body against his and wrapped her arms around him. He closed around her and listened to her talk in a hushed desperate whisper.
“Maybe they’ll believe our story. Maybe they’ll go easy on us because we’re helping the victim of a threat.
Maybe…” She stopped speaking and he felt the moisture from tears against his shirt and held onto her, caressing her back and her hair and wanting to make everything all right.
Wanting to send her away so that she could escape all of it.
He knew she was contemplating a fate worse than death to her—she was staring down at the end of her career.
“They’ll make Toly go through with the arms deal, won’t they? So they can catch Max and Sal red-handed.”
“Who knows how far up the food chain they’ll want to go, how far they’ll let the deal go, before they close in on their prey. That’s what I’d do if I were in charge.”
“What would you do with us?”
“Keep us on ice in case they need to play us. Use us as bait.”
“They’re going to bring us in to get to Toly.”
“Probably. They don’t need us, but they don’t know that.”
“They don’t know Toly is a sentimental old man about his family. Or that he’s being threatened and that he called us in to protect his family, but if we can convince them—”
“What of it? They’ll still want to play Max and Sal back to the terrorists. They’ll still want Toly to play the game.”
“Then maybe it’ll all work out.”
“They’re not going to let Toly go once it’s over. They’ll throw him in jail or keep him on a leash.”
“And us?”
“Wish I knew, sweetheart. But I suppose we’ll find out soon enough.”
Dane decided he would take the initiative. Maybe he could cut everyone else out of the picture.
Shana said, “The good news is Lara and Paulette won’t be in danger any longer. Lara can have her wedding.”
“Not if they decide Ryan Murphy is part of the problem.” Dane’s mind ran ahead with what they’d be thinking of the Murphy & Haley connection, what he’d be thinking if he were Homeland Security and looking to shut down a terrorist cell. It didn’t look good for them.
Shana’s face paled. She had a penchant for thinking about the innocents, for worrying about them, trying to keep them innocent. One of the reasons he loved her. He ought to tell her that. Some day.
Today, now, he was made of granite.
“What’s the plan, boss?” Acer came back inside with his bag and his electronic gadgets.
He took out of the bag a black box with a fluorescent green LED readout and began walking about the perimeter of the room.
He wasn’t shy about pouring himself another tumbler of Patron along the way.
He paused to wait for Dane to say something, to let them know he had a plan, to reassure them that they were in good hands with him as their leader, as it always had been.
With his chest tightening against the pressure, Dane refused to let them down.
He refused to let himself down. A flash of his father’s memory sparked him and calmed him.
“The plan is to take the bull by the horns.”
Acer lifted his glass and then downed the tequila.
Shana let out a breath. Dane doubted she knew she’d been holding it in. He reached out and pulled a tendril of her hair. When she swatted his hand away, he held the flinch inside.
“Can’t wait to hear the details,” she said. As if she knew he had none.