Chapter 1 #2
“I knew he’d want revenge. He may have been in jail, but he made sure I got the message.
Said he was coming for me when he got out.
Warned me to keep a watch over my shoulder.
And he promised that he’d come after my family first. He mentioned my mother’s name specifically. Said he knew where she lived.”
“When did he get out of jail?”
“Almost ten years.”
“So that’s why you moved her to the Berkshires.”
He nodded, brushing his cheek against her hair. He breathed in the volatile scent that always made his blood stir.
“That’s a long time,” she said.
“I’m not overreacting. I’m being cautious.”
“I didn’t—”
He smiled. She rolled her eyes.
“Trying your mind- reading? Well, you’re wrong. That’s not what I was thinking.”
“Good.” He knew what she was thinking. That he was paranoid, but that he had a right to be.
“Where does your mother live exactly? How do you know she’s safe where she is?”
“I went to a lot of trouble finding the right location and getting her there off the record. Not only because of Dag’s threat, which was real enough.”
“You’ve probably amassed more enemies than friends over the years.”
“Sure, but my friends tend to live longer.”
One side of her mouth twitched like she didn’t want to smile, but he needed to balance out the paranoia with a reality check.
He wanted to make the most of his mother’s visit as long as she was coming. He’d make it a safe visit and he’d enjoy it. Even if it cost him a pain in the neck. And back and gut and everywhere else. It was hell getting old.
His mother was getting old.
“I’m glad you invited my mother to visit. About time I saw her again, about time she saw where I live.”
He didn’t say that it was about time she met Shana, but he thought it.
“It’s about time I met her.” Shana folded her arms across her chest and stuck out one hip. He could see her strain not to jut her chin in the air like a defiant child, but she may as well have.
He nodded. Then he winked.
“Tell me about her.”
He shrugged. Had no idea what to say.
“She’s been living in the Berkshires for a little over ten years now. Used to live with my Aunt Sally in Boston until I moved them both next door to the governor’s in-laws in Lenox.”
“Nice neighbors. She’s remote and protected. But anyone could find her—”
“Except I gave her a new identity. Not as stringent as witness protection, but backed up well enough to prevent the likes of Dag from locating her. All her friends and relatives were warned. They’ve been instructed to give Dag false flag information if he asks and to call me if they ever see or hear from him. ”
“Have you gotten any calls?”
“Not in a while, but a few.”
She got that closed look, the one she got when she was trying to act cool and unfazed.
“Did you think I was worried about an empty threat?”
She sighed. “Maybe I was hoping.”
He reached out and stroked her hair.
“Let’s go to bed.”
He felt her shiver under his touch. That response could mean many things with Shana, not all of them good. But he hoped for the best.
In spite of his desire to fall into bed—either to sleep or to make love—Dane detoured to his office in the front room where the living room would have been if a normal person lived in this small house. He stood at the beat-up metal desk and picked up the old-fashioned receiver of the secure phone.
“Who are you calling?” Shana stood a few feet behind him. Close enough for him to breathe in his scent and torture himself with a vision of them under the sheets.
“Sam. You don’t know him.”
“Who is he?” She approached and stood close now. He knew she’d want to listen in, but the way he craved her now, it might not be a good idea.
Or maybe it was the best idea there was.
He sat on the edge of the desk and pulled her to him while he dialed and held the phone to his ear. He held her close, felt her hot skin against his legs. She didn’t protest. He was about to hang up the phone and pull her into the bedroom when he heard Sam pick up.
“Damn.”
“I’d know that ‘damn’ anywhere. Dane Blaise. The world must be coming to an end.”
Sam was cool, cooler than Dane had ever been and the only man Dane felt inferior to from time to time—and that list of men included the governor and a lot of generals.
“I wouldn’t call anyone else to fix a world-ending problem.”
“Then who would I call?”
“Don’t call me.” Dane took a breath. “Do you know the whereabouts of Dagmar Hunt?”
What he heard on Sam’s end of the line was nothing. No quick intake of breath to convey shock, no anxious heavy breathing, no epithets of disgust. Only the icy silence of thoughtful serious consideration. Then he spoke.
“No. But I’ll find him. What’s this about?”
“My mother is coming to visit me.”
“On Martha’s Vineyard?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re letting her?” This was the first hint of anything besides icy dispassion from his friend. Sam sounded incredulous.
“I couldn’t stop her.”
“What got the idea into her head? She okay?”
Shana squeezed his arm and gave him a look. Dane decided to ignore the question. No sense dredging up his slavery to a beautiful woman when he’d always been the master in the past. He didn’t want to send Sam into a tailspin of disbelief.
“She’s arriving tomorrow.”
“I’ll get you Dag’s location by then. I’ll be on island in two—”
“No need. I have security covered.”
“Maybe I just want to visit.”
Dane laughed. “I doubt anything will come of it. After all these years. I doubt he still tracks me.”
“Who you shitting?”
“I wouldn’t want to be too paranoid.”
“No such thing. See you in two.” Sam signed off.
Dane hung the bulky old receiver back in its cradle.
Shana said, “He’s coming, isn’t he?”
Dane nodded. “Why? You afraid of Sam?”
She jutted her chin to the usual angle that made him love yanking her chain, that made him love her.
“Afraid?” She scoffed. “I’m not afraid of Dagmar Hunt, so why should I be afraid of Sam the mystery man?”
“Who are you afraid of, girlie?” He gentled his words and slipped his arm around her waist, crushing her to his hips. She waited a beat before answering, then nuzzled his neck and earlobe and whispered.
“I’m afraid of your mother, that’s who.”
He laughed. She bit his earlobe. He laughed harder.
“Move aside. I have another phone call to make.”
She took a long look at him and said, “Jake?”
He nodded.
“I’ll be at state police headquarters checking in with Cap. I’ll see what he can find out for us about Dag’s whereabouts.”
He nodded and watched her walk out of the room. He loved watching her walk away, but there was always a pinch of anxiety when she did. Like he always thought there was a possibility she wouldn’t come back.
He turned away and picked up the receiver to the ancient phone again, dialing a California number he knew from memory even though he didn’t remember the last time he’d dialed it. Jake answered on the first ring.
“Chief Killian here. What can I do for you?”
“That’s a very friendly attitude you have for the chief of crime and catching the bad guys. You must not have enough mayhem going on. Maybe I should visit.” Dane held the phone a fraction of an inch from his ear.
“Damn it to hell. Is this the gone-but-not-forgotten long-lost legend calling from God knows where? God damn it, how the hell are you, Dane? It’s been too long.”
“Not so long you forgot my voice. How the hell are you?”
“I’m twiddling my thumbs sitting behind a desk on easy street in a posh police station in a no-trouble town of the well-heeled in the sunshine. Occasionally I get out to surf.”
“Still a poet? Being a cop didn’t crush the wordiness from you.”
“You called me because you have a problem.”
“You get one shot.”
“Dagmar Hunt.” Jake’s voice got serious and he said nothing more, as if the saying of the notorious man’s name had exhausted his wind.
“I need to know what he’s been up to. Past six months. Everything and anything you can get me.”
“What’s going on?”
“My mother—”
“Shit. She okay?”
“Yes.”
“Still at an undisclosed location?”
“Not as of today. She’s coming to visit me. On Martha’s Vineyard.”
“You’re staying on the Vineyard out of season? What the hell?”
Dane didn’t want to sound the alarm. After all, what were the chances that Dag would have enough juice to find out where Mom was—or want to waste his resources to keep tabs on Dane after all these years?
It had been a long while since Dag had made the threat against his mother. He didn’t want to remember the times.
“Don’t ask. I need information. That’s all. For once, just do what I ask.”
“Sure. Give me your address.”
“Why?”
“I was thinking of taking a vacation back east. Bout time I visited.”
“You’ve never been east of Colorado. I figure there’s a reason for that—you’d probably keel over if you got too far from the Pacific.”
It was an odd thing about Jake. He hadn’t gone into the military because he’d wanted to stick close to home.
He’d gone to USC and majored in English lit and then got a law degree and became a cop.
Said he couldn’t get past the excitement of chasing down bad guys the way they had in those heady days in high school.
He’d been hooked on law enforcement ever since that horrible thrilling night Dag had been arrested and taken away. After he and Dane had caught him.
“Never had a good reason.”
“Don’t come. I need you there to watch out.”
“Lucky thing I don’t take orders from you.”
“You always did want to horn in on my excitement, didn’t you?”
Dane smiled in spite of everything, in spite of the dread weighing on his chest and the constant sting between his shoulder blades.
He looked at the industrial schoolroom-style clock on the far wall of the room.
He’d got it the same place he’d found the metal desk.
The hands of time seemed to be moving faster today.
He felt the pressure of the ticking clock in his head. He looked away.
“Find out what you can first. See if he’s been poking around. See if he still has a grudge.”