Chapter 2 #2
“I said I was concerned about a long-standing threat against someone who would be visiting the island and wanted to make sure Dag and his gang weren’t in the area. I didn’t name names.”
“They didn’t ask?”
“No.”
“Which means they already know. Shit.” The last thing he wanted was ATF involvement. In his experience the feds were more of a hindrance than a help. There were always strings. And Dane always seemed to be on the end of said string as bait.
“They said they’ll send me a copy of the file. But not via email. It’s going to be hand delivered.”
“Dandy. Did they tell you anything useful?”
“Dag is still an unofficial leader of a virulent branch of the Mongols motorcycle gang out in California. When the ATF busted up the Mongols a few years back they got ninety percent of the leadership thrown in jail and shut down most of their activity.
“Apparently, they didn’t get Dag. They’re not sure how he slipped their grasp, but he did.
And he’s rebuilt their California base. They consider him dangerous.
They’re interested. They have an open file.
They didn’t say how interested. They didn’t share the status of their operation, but I figure they have something ongoing. ”
“So when they deliver the file there’ll be a dozen strings attached like cement glue.”
“Yes. But that’s on me. I’m the one who’ll have to work with them. Not you.”
“Do they have eyes on him now? Did they say where he was?”
“No.”
“Damn. That’s the only thing we needed from them. And they probably know that’s the one thing we want. Withholding the key information you asked for isn’t a good sign.”
Cap sighed. “I’ll get it out of them. As soon as I can. It’s possible they don’t know where Dag is and didn’t want to admit it.”
“That ain’t good news either, Cap.” Dane rolled his shoulders, closed his eyes and cleared his mind. “Means Dag’s on the East Coast or suspected to be and they lost him. Thanks for the heads-up.”
“Tomorrow I’ll provide an escort from the ferry to the shack and hang out in front until reinforcements show up.”
“What makes you think I have reinforcements?” He already knew the answer.
“I know you, Dane. Shana didn’t need to tell me. I’d have figured it out.”
“It’s a bitch being predictable. I don’t know how you stand it all the time.”
Cap laughed. Dane smiled into his phone in spite of the alarm tensing him and put his hand back on Shana’s hip, then ended the call. He must be getting soft. That’s what good friends did to a man, even a badass like him.
*****
It wasn’t exactly sneaky for Shana to call Cap in the morning as soon as she woke and got out of bed—before Dane could stop her. She wanted to know what the call had been about last night.
Cap gave her the update from the ATF and said he’d put out an alert to his men, with a picture, to look out for Dag.
That wasn’t what Shana had wanted to hear about or deal with on this day when her mother and Dane’s mother were arriving.
A smart vengeful mean-ass was after Dane’s mother.
And her mother was going to be right there in the thick of it too. Shit.
She pressed the brew button on the drip coffeemaker and slipped her phone from her pocket again, glad for the few minutes to wrap her mind around this without the distraction of Dane. She hoped he’d take a good long shower.
She called Mrs. Jones to arrange for her mother to stay at the home-away-from-home motel. If it had been good enough for Shana to stay at during the winter when she’d needed space between her and Dane, then her mother could stay there now.
Maybe Shana would join her.
She dismissed the thought.
Dane slipped into the kitchen while she still had the phone in her hand.
His hair glistened and his white T-shirt, tight over his strong body, made his tan stand out.
He wore sneakers and his cargo shorts that she knew would be stuffed with all kinds of tools of his trade, including his Glock. The uniform for his morning run.
Her chest tightened at the sight of him. She adored every manly speck of him, every badass ounce of unreasonableness and deep-down goodness.
“That was Cap,” Shana lied.
*****
He knew she was lying. He waited for her to elaborate. She stood next to the coffeepot waiting for it to drip its last drip of brew.
“He’s having his officers circulate a picture of Dag to key locals. He said he got the picture from an arrest file a few years back in Boston. An abduction.”
Dane winced because he knew what was coming next. He’d have to figure out her lie later. She knew about the abduction of his cousin. Dag had got away before Dane had had a chance to get involved. He’d been in Haiti on assignment.
“Seems the abductee was a relative of yours. A cousin. Dag was released and disappeared.”
He nodded.
Shana continued. “The good news was your cousin was found—a little worse for the wear—but alive. “That means Dag’s threats aren’t empty.” She sipped her coffee.
He looked for the tightness, tension around her eyes. It was there.
“I moved my mother then. Hid her away before they let him back on the street. I had a trap set.”
“Let me guess—he didn’t fall for the trap.”
“Dagmar Hunt is a very smart badass.”
It cost him to say it, as if he feared Dag was smarter than him. It might be true, but Dag had a major flaw that Dane didn’t have. Dag was a bat-shit crazy psycho with an obsession. And Dane knew him like the back of his eyelids.
“Our mothers are on the same ferry.” Shana slipped her phone back into her pocket. She had no idea how to feel about that their mothers together, maybe talking. She put the notion aside. She looked at Dane, searched his face, his eyes. Her gaze inevitably wandered to his lips.
He stood two feet away, across from her in his tiny familiar kitchen. His solidness should calm her, but those lips… they always gave her a flutter. Remembering how they felt on her, how hot, lush, demanding and giving.
“What are you looking at, girlie?” He smirked.
It was a mistake to forget about his mind reading abilities, but then maybe she wanted him to see that desire in her face. But she hadn’t slept well. Hadn’t slept much at all. Picking up the mug, she downed the rest of the Dane-strength black coffee.
“We have to leave now. No time for playing games.” She turned away, pulled the keys to the Jeep from the hook on the wall at the back door and went out.
She didn’t need to turn around to know he followed her.
Closely. She could feel him. He had some kind of aura, energy with heat and something disturbing.
That was how she experienced Dane Blaise.
She had a feeling he affected a lot of people the same way. Disturbing them with his strong righteous energy.
“You’re in no shape to drive. You’re a bundle of nerves.”
He caught up with her and trapped her against the driver’s door. She turned to face him, to feel him up against her body. He fit himself along her, pressing his hips to hers possessively and holding his arms alongside her against the car.
“And you’re not?” She didn’t see it, but she knew the nerves were there underneath. She felt the energy jumping off him, the heat. If she didn’t hold firm she’d melt. She wanted to melt under him.
“I’m the cool one. Always. Remember?”
“Except when you’re not.” She arched a brow. It was crazy to challenge Dane, but it would be crazier to back down. She was not a back-down kind of woman anyway.
He brought his mouth to hers and nipped her lower lip. Then he whispered near her ear, breathing on her neck and causing a riot of chills and thrills along her skin.
“You’re lucky I find you irresistible. But I’m driving.”
Then he snatched the keys from her slack hand and pulled away from her. She’d never seen anyone quicker than Dane. At least not anyone human. Maybe snakes were quicker.
She jumped into the passenger seat and arranged herself.
“It’s going to be too crowded at the shack. I arranged for my mother to stay at Mrs. Jones’s motel.”
He turned to look at her, one hand on the wheel and the other on the key in the ignition, like he was reconsidering starting the car. Or reconsidering something.
“You staying at the motel with your mother?” He wore no expression, his voice barely inflected to a question mark.
She licked her lips and willed him to show her something. But he didn’t.
“We only have two bedrooms.”
He turned the key and the old engine grumbled to life.
“You’ll stay with me.”
She said nothing. She knew he’d take that as agreement. Her heart blipped oddly in her chest. Why shouldn’t she stay with him? Because his mother would be in the next room. Because she had no idea what their relationship was and didn’t want to have his mother assuming it was something it wasn’t.
“Don’t worry. When Sam and Jake get here, I’ll be keeping them on watch. They’ll bunk in the office on cots. We’ve done it before.”
She nodded, as if that’s what she was worried about—it was what she should’ve been worried about.
“You sure it’s necessary?”
“I underestimated Dagmar Hunt twice before. Not happening a third time.”
“As a precaution?” She didn’t want to believe the threat was real. She couldn’t wrap her mind around it. It was a fact that Dane Blaise was paranoid.
He sat in the driver’s seat not driving, holding his hands on the worn steering wheel. With one hand, he reached over and brushed her hair from her face, caressing her cheek as he did. He looked at her and smiled. It looked shockingly genuine. Like he’d read her mind.
Damn it.
“As a precaution. We’ve been careful all these years. And successful. Now is no time to stop.”
“The beach shack is weirdly well equipped as a bunker.” She had no idea what else to say.
“And stocked for a long siege,” he said.
“There will be no siege.” Not again. “Not even a short one.” She shut her mind and looked out over the harbor across the back lawn of the beach shack.