Chapter 18
As Dane pulled his pants on, he heard the door to Shana’s bedroom fling open and realized it was Acer. In the next minute, before his shirt was on and before Shana had her panties on, the front doorbell sounded and the secure phone rang.
“Shit.” Dane looked back over his shoulder at her.
Her hair was a gorgeous sexy mess and her lips were swollen and pink.
Her green eyes sparkled with endless love and she smiled at him.
It was the rarest of Shana’s smiles. It was the one that told him she would follow him to the ends of the earth and back.
He didn’t want to leave. He stood poised to go out the door but looked back at her half naked and warm.
The air in the room was scented with their excitement.
“Dane, get the hell out here—we got company.” Acer yelled and then pounded on his door.
“Damn it to hell.” He muttered the words.
Shana said, “I’m right behind you.”
“Really? Because if you go out there and company sees you like that you’ll be on the breakfast menu.” He thought of Derek Smith and that was enough to take the edge off his excitement. “You should take your time. Get yourself back to a businesslike look.”
“What about you?”
“There is no pack of women out there waiting to jump me as far as I know.”
She laughed. “For a change.”
He slid out the door closing it behind him with a definitive do-not-disturb thud. Acer stood in the hallway waiting for him.
“You can’t answer the door without me?”
“This is your party. I’m the lowly assistant. That was the governor on the secure line. He’s holding while we set up a Skype call.”
“Terrific.”
While Dane went to the front door to let in a cadre of federal officials led by the relentless Special Agent Smith, he heard Cap come in the back door. The tension he hadn’t realized had been holding his shoulders prisoner loosened its grip then.
He opened the door and before any of the feds opened their mouths or stepped a foot inside, Dane spoke.
“The governor and SAC Evans are on standby for a teleconference that will serve as our debriefing.”
The announcement was met with scowls and grumbles, but the three men who paraded inside and took their seats at the dining room conference table, Smith, Croft and Tims, knew better than to argue.
Acer fired up the large monitor set up at the end of the table and Cap handed Dane a cup of Lucky Parrot coffee. He was almost as grateful for the cup of Joe as he had been for the last time Cap saved his life.
Cap said, “You owe me.”
Introductions went around the table and when they finished the governor asked, “Where’s Shana?”
Dane ignored Smith’s accusing glance. He was about to make an excuse for her when she slid into the room and stood behind him.
“Right here, Mr. Governor. In the shadow of Dane Blaise as usual.” She wore a bright smile and so the governor laughed. None of the feds laughed. Dane didn’t take it to heart. She was joking and he knew it. Everyone who knew her was blinded by her brilliance on a routine basis.
Governor Peter John Douglas, thank God, ran the call. They each spoke about their part in the operation and how they ended up with Max the Ax Xavier and his pal Sal Cannelloni in custody after a short stay at the hospital.
Croft briefly and in broad strokes outlined Homeland Security’s plans to use Max and Sal to get to the terrorist cell and stop their operation.
“We’ll shut them down one way or another,” Croft ended. Dane believed him.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Owen Evans spoke up and said, “I’m sure the FBI will play a role in the operation as well.”
Croft said nothing. Then Evans turned his attention to Dane, Shana, and Acer.
“None of you should leave the country until further notice. We may need to speak to you again. We may need additional assistance.” He paused, briefly glanced at Peter and then added, “New information may come to light during our interrogation of the various perps that will change your status. Until the entire operation is shut down, we’ll be keeping tabs on you. ”
Dane asked, “What about Anatoly Ivanov?”
“He’s one of the perpetrators until further notice.”
Dane would have said more but the governor gave him a warning look.
Peter said, “It’s my understanding that Ivanov is being held for questioning and assistance with intelligence gathering due to his connections, isn’t that right?”
The SAC glared, but nodded.
The rest of the conversation after that was meaningless. Dane only half listened. He became aware of his world returning to semi normal and of Shana standing behind him close enough for him to feel her heat and to smell the soapy fresh scent of her.
The call ended and the feds paraded out. All except Special Agent Smitten.
If he wanted to stay then Dane didn’t care. He would give the guy an eye-full.
They all stood in the kitchen refilling their coffee. Dane leaned against the refrigerator with Shana leaning against him and his arms wrapped around her, his hands on her warm belly. He nuzzled her ear and breathed in her hair.
“What shampoo do you use? It smells so good.”
She tightened in his arms and he saw the pink flush of embarrassment at the blatant publicizing of their intimacy. But Dane held on tight.
Cap tried to squelch a grin. Acer didn’t bother hiding his grin and looked at Smith as if he were expecting the man to throw his mug down and start a fight.
“I should be leaving now.” Smith looked only at Shana, spoke only to her. She loosened herself from Dane’s grip and he let her go. She wanted to be a grown up, a professional about this and he didn’t want to stop her. He was proud of her. He adored her.
And in all honesty, he couldn’t blame Smith for adoring her, too. Dane allowed a moment of pity for the man.
“It’s been a pleasure working with you on this operation, Special Agent—”
“It’s all right to call me Derek, Shana.
” He gave her a warm smile and extended his hand.
He flashed a look at Dane. Dane wasn’t sure if he was asking permission and thought the look was more likely one of defiance.
Hard to tell. Either way, Shana extended her hand and they shook.
A little too long for Dane’s comfort, but then the man left. He went out the back door.
Of all that transpired that morning with all the feds, Dane wasn’t sure why he found the fact that Smith had gone out his back door the most disquieting.
Until he remembered they had to pick her mother and brothers up at the airport that day. He looked at his watch. Soon.
“What time is it?” She looked up at him.
“Noon.”
“Shit,” she said.
“We have plenty of time.”
Dane was procrastinating. He never liked getting to the airport early except if he was staking the place out.
But this time it was at least partly because he was anxious.
He wanted to make an impression on her family.
It was the first time in a long time he was worried about what kind of impression he would make or worried about what someone thought of him.
Hadn’t felt this way since his father died.
Shana grabbed his attention with her green eyes glittering with desperation and excitement and worry. He knew she was worried about him making a good impression.
The cloud of concern in his head disappeared in that instant and Dane smiled and snatched a lock of her hair and curled it around his fingers. His fingers shook. His heart thundered.
He was doomed. He cared too much. And she cared back the same.
“Let’s go,” he said to her.
“What about—?” Cap said.
Acer said, “Never mind. We can wrap up the rest of the details later. All that’s left is the money.” He lifted his cup in a salute.
Dane waited for Shana’s attention to be drawn to Acer at the mention of money, but she didn’t bite.
“I believe Dane and Shana have to meet a plane,” Cap said. “You have some out of town guests coming in, if I’m not mistaken.”
Dane said, “You are right, Cap.”
They arrived at the airport early, giving Shana plenty of time to pace around the terminal.
They were in the unsecured area where they let nonpassengers walk around.
Dane had suggested they go inside to the gate—use their credentials—but Shana said no.
Their credentials were shaky right now. But he thought it was because she was shaky right now.
He knew exactly how she felt.
He said, “Did I mention that my mother will be flying in tomorrow?”
Shana snapped her head around to look at him, at first in shock. Then the amazing smile, whose glare competed with the sun itself, shone in absolute pleasure.
“I’m stunned,” she said. But Dane was the one who felt stunned.
He felt lightheaded, but it wasn’t a dangerous feeling, at least not in body. His soul on the other hand was in grave danger of escaping to the most vulnerable place on earth.
He felt on the verge of giving up his soul to the altar of loving a woman more than his life, more than his purpose. More than humanity itself. He felt on the verge of sacrificing his life’s very essence up to Shana the Beautiful. And he felt no pain, no agony, no angst.
But there was fear. He recognized the fear. It made him shake. It was the fear of giving himself up to the unknown.
THE END