Chapter 4
They didn’t speak on the way. Mainly because Dane had shushed her with a finger over her lips. He’d stopped short of slipping his finger inside her warm wet sensual mouth, jerking his attention back to his driving as he swerved into the parking lot of the Vineyard Haven Market.
She jumped from the Jeep, swinging the door open before he’d thrown it into park. No doubt she wanted to know why they were at the market instead of at the State Police Headquarters.
But he was wrong. She’d turned and walked for the front door and he’d had to jog to catch up to her.
“You know we’re being followed.”
A sparkling green glare was her response.
“I heard our Secret Service pals same as you. I get that they don’t trust us. I get that we’re going to sneak out through the deli and make our way to Cap’s back door.”
She didn’t wait for him to open the door for her. This old store didn’t rate modern automatic-opening doors. But on the flip side, the employees maintained the old-fashioned practice of helping people outside with their groceries when they needed it.
“Well damn, girlie. You’re really on top of this operation.” He put an arm around her in spite of her squirrely attitude—maybe because of it. He’d always appreciated the challenge of Shana. He hoped to hell she would never change. But this was no time to dwell on their upcoming marriage.
They walked down the coffee and spice aisle, skirted two carriages accompanied by gray-haired women, and went for the stainless-steel door next to the deli counter.
Dane nodded to Joe, his ex-marine deli man and part-time assistant investigator, as he walked past the man, gesturing with his chin to meet them in back.
Shana pushed through the swinging door and he followed her into the warehouse-like storage room. They turned right around the corner and met up with Joe in his white butcher’s coat and plastic apron.
“I have a feeling you two aren’t here for the baloney special.”
“We’re passing through and we’d appreciate it, if anyone asks, that you say you saw us in the cookie aisle.”
He nodded, looked like he wanted to ask, but knew better.
“We’ll be back as soon as we can. Stall.”
“Yes, sir.”
Shana pulled on his arm and they went down some stairs and out the back door into the delivery area. No one was about. Shana started jogging and he followed. He was starting to think she was too eager, like maybe she wanted to be in charge of this mission.
“How much time do you figure we have?” She spoke without effort as they ran down a side street and took a corner into a residential neighborhood. He had no idea how the hell she ran in those heels as if they were part of her anatomy.
“After half hour waiting for us to come out the front door, they’ll go inside and look for us and then they’ll ask around and figure out we went through the back.”
“Joe will never tell them,” she said.
“They’ll figure it out anyway. And they’ll know where we went and so I figure we have thirty-five to forty minutes tops before they show up at State Police Headquarters with a full head of steam. We’d better be gone by then.”
“They’ll have some nasty words for Cap if we’re not there to yell at. They won’t believe him when he tells them we weren’t there.”
“Cost of doing business.” Dane shrugged. “Cap is a tough man.”
“Chances are the Governor’s already filled him in.”
“Either way. We’re filling him in.” Dane started breathing heavier. It was all the talking while running. He wasn’t used to that.
“What are we going to tell him?”
“About these two Secret Service agents moving into the beach shack and about the terrorist cell threat.” Dane slowed down.
State Police Headquarters was in sight across the street.
They needed to slip around back and make sure no one saw them.
He paused at the edge of the street in the shadow of an oak tree. Shana stopped with him. here
“I bet it’s a man and woman pair. Whoever they’re going to send. A couple. And they look as American as apple pie.”
Dane smirked.
“You playing my game, girlie? Speculating with certainty?”
She shrugged, but her cat-green eyes and compressed grin made her look like she’d eaten that poor canary. They darted across the street and across a lawn and headed for the back of the Cape Cod house that held the state police headquarters on Martha’s Vineyard.
Dane knocked on the back door twice and then took out his key. Cap had given it to him a couple of years ago when he’d first worked a case on the Vineyard for the Governor. It had been the first time he’d worked with Shana. He shook off the memory before he got schmaltzy about it.
Since when had he gotten sentimental? It was a dangerous habit to pick up in his business.
Dane opened the door carefully, making sure no one was in the back hallway before going inside. He held Shana by the arm. Needlessly, but she didn’t pull away from him. They slipped into Cap’s office unnoticed and closed the door behind them.
Cap was on the phone. He stood when they appeared in his doorway, aiming a questioning look at them.
Dane closed the door and kept his face inscrutable.
He’d wait until he had his friend’s full attention.
Shana pulled away from him and walked to stand front and center.
She had a tendency to be impatient. Dane kept his smile to himself.
Cap got the message and hung up the phone after he mumbled an excuse to whoever he was speaking with. Dane looked at his watch. They had seventeen minutes. Including eight minutes to run back.
“We have nine minutes.” That was for Shana’s benefit in case she thought of exchanging pleasantries. He took a seat in one of the two uncomfortable chairs while Shana sat on the edge of the other.
Dane told Cap everything concisely and in a clipped voice, starting with the Secret Service following them on the beach up to running from the supermarket. He checked his watch. In seventy-six seconds.
“I got a heads-up call earlier from Peter,” Cap said. “I would have called you soon. Looks like it’s a good thing I didn’t, if what you suspect is true. That they have you under surveillance.”
“How much did Peter tell you?”
“Everything you told him. And about the terrorist cell threat soon to arrive.”
“What makes you think they’re not already here?”
He said nothing.
“I think it’ll be a man and woman,” Shana said. “A couple on vacation. Could be here now. Or not. They’ll be impossible to spot.”
“You’ll know what to look for once you’re bird-dogging the President.”
“What if they know we’ll be watching and they’re smart and hit early. Or only show up once, the time they’re going to hit.” Dane wasn’t asking. He knew that would be the way.
“Once you get the itinerary, you’ll need to figure the most vulnerable appearance.”
“What if they don’t care about getting out and they just set a bomb—Boston Marathon bomber style?” Shana asked.
Cap said, “We’ve got that covered. We’ll have more dogs sniffing around here than hamburgers to feed them.”
“God damn.” Shana stood, hands fisted. “Are we saying this is a losing proposition? If so, why are they allowing the President to come here?”
Dane pulled her back down to sit and tugged on a stray lock of her hair. He loved the long blond wavy tresses. He stopped himself from pushing his hand through her mane. He’d likely lose himself there.
“Don’t fret, darlin’. We got this. There’s a reason the President hasn’t canceled the trip in spite of the threat.”
“You thinking it’s bogus?” Cap asked.
“No. If Peter, the damn Governor who makes it his business to know these things, and who’s plugged into people in high places so he can know these things, thinks it’s a credible threat, then it is.”
“Then what?” Cap sat back in his chair with his hands clasped behind his head as if waiting for Dane to tell him a story. Shana gave him her signature suspicious scowl.
“They’re setting a trap. In fact, there’s a possibility that the President visiting the island will actually be the President’s double.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Shana withheld a snort. Barely. “The President’s double? I never heard of such a thing.” She stood again and stalked around the office.
Cap rocked forward in his chair to sit straight.
Cap hadn’t spoken, but his face looked like the cover of a weighty book, hiding all kinds of complicated machinations. Dane waited for the dust to settle. He had no choice. His mind was quick, the meal on the table before others had the time to assemble the ingredients and cook up the recipe.
“This is serious,” Cap finally said. “What you’re suggesting is wildly speculative.”
“We don’t have time to go into it.” Dane looked at his watch. “Not now. But trust me. There’s no way in hell the President would put himself in the line of fire except to set a trap.”
“And there’s no way the Secret Service would let him play bait.” Cap took a deep breath. “But still—”
“We have to get out of here.” Shana glanced at her Apple watch, a new toy she was determined to put to good use.
Dane stood. She was right. Andrews and Goodley were bound to be on their trail by now. And so far, the Secret Service was one federal law enforcement agency he hadn’t managed to piss off. Maybe he could keep it that way. Not that he cared. But Shana worried about it.
He stepped into the hall with Shana behind him close enough for him to smell her old-fashioned Chanel No.5. Before he could let the scent overwhelm his senses and take over, he heard loud voices coming from the front entrance.
“Shit.” The two suits had caught up with them. Aiming for the back door, he said, “Keep up with me.”