Page 26 of Beachcomber Enemy

“How did he know we were here?” Ronnie took his jacket off and paced a restless circle.

“Not sure, but don’t worry,” Dane said. “He’ll leave us alone.” He watched Shana glower at him, arms folded, leather jacket still on. Her emerald eyes glittered within the frame of the bright red hair.

“As much as I’d love to stay and have breakfast with all of you,” Vendi said, “I need to get back to the Coast Guard station.” Then he turned to Shana and added, “But I’ll be on call if you need anything.” When the man leaned in and gave her a kiss, it was all Dane could do to keep from leaping across the small space and ripping him off her. As it was, Joe put a hand on his shoulder. Vendi had enough sense to kiss her cheek and not her mouth, and the good judgment to leave quickly after that, up the stairs through the bulkhead where they’d come in.

“Nervy guy,” Joe said as he looked between Dane and Shana. “What’s the plan—we wait for the funeral tomorrow?”

“I don’t know if I can stand waiting around here for this Whitey character to show up at your funeral tomorrow to catch him. Not while he’s holding Sassy.” Ronnie sank into the one comfortable chair in the shabby dungeon-like room.

Shana sat on the cot that had been left there since the time Acer had had to spend time holed up in this basement. Dane half expected her to lie down and sleep. She suddenly looked exhausted, like someone had let the air out of her. Maybe it was him, maybe he’d sucked the life out of her by not trusting her to take care of herself. In the light of day, like seeing the replay of a drunken night of debauchery the next morning, it appeared he might have been heavy-handed with his protectiveness.

But damn it, this was her life. If Whitey slit her throat, there were no do-overs. And if that happened he might as well slit Whitey’s throat, then his own. Dane snapped himself from the negative thoughts. Shana was alive and well, but the same might not be said about Sassy.

“Let’s plan to find Sassy tonight. I’m betting all the marbles Whitey has her in the basement of her house.”

Ronnie nodded in agreement.

Joe said, “Another excursion under the cover of darkness?”

“How can you be so sure?” Shana asked.

Of course Shana questioned him. Maybe he’d counted on it. He drank in her scowling face, with the hint of anger simmering beneath, giving that beloved spark to her green eyes.

“He has her phone. He trashed her pie shop. He needs a place to stay. And most of all. He wants to set a trap. For you. When Cap checked the house, they were still at the pie shop. He had to know we’d be checking both.”

“You think he’s watching us?” Ronnie asked.

Dane shook his head. “There was no surveillance at the pie shop and they didn’t follow us, so I don’t see how they could be watching us. We’ll need to be extra careful about checking the grounds at Sassy’s house for cameras or motion sensors.”

“I have equipment for that,” Joe said.

“We’ll plan it for three a.m. tonight. That’ll give them a chance to get sleepy. If we get lucky, maybe everyone will be there and we can extract Sassy and eliminate Whitey Nash and his pal Eli Hughes.”

“That’s what I want to hear,” Ronnie said.

“Unless they have explosives or another booby trap.” Deep down Dane figured this was a given, but he didn’t want Ronnie upset to the point where he’d be unreliable.

The room went silent for a beat and he exchanged glances with Shana.

“Mind if I grab some shut-eye?” Joe said.

“Sure. But it won’t be for long. I’ll be waking you for the press conference at 10 a.m. with Cap and the governor.”

“A show I won’t want to miss. Where is it being held? Maybe we should be there in person.”

Shana said, “Good idea. In case Whitey shows up. I’ll dress up—” She rose as if to run out the door until Dane caught her by the elbow.

“You’re not going anywhere. None of us are going. Not until we’ve got eyes on Sassy. Not until the funeral. Too risky. Too many news snoops and law enforcement personnel who know us well. Cap has Whitey’s and Eli’s photos. He’s distributing them to his officers. They’ll be looking for him with orders to arrest on suspicion of kidnapping. We’re staying right here during daylight hours. Pretend you’re a vampire. If someone sees you in the light of day and knows it’s you, the whole plan is blown.” He didn’t go into detail about what blown meant, but she knew it meant Sassy was blown, that Nash and Eli might escape or blow something else up.

“The only plan we have is to get Sassy and eliminate Whitey,” she said. “By whatever means.”

He didn’t raise a brow at her extreme take, but it was unusual for her. “We’re on the same page then.”

“Don’t we need to arrest him and take him in?” Ronnie said.

Dane exchanged a glance with Shana. He wasn’t sure how to answer the kid, but he wasn’t going to start lying or sugarcoating things now.

“In theory. But that’s not how this operation is going down, kid. I don’t want you to get in trouble at such a young age with your whole career ahead of you, so if you—”