Page 61 of Beachcomber Danger

Taking a glass of champagne from the tray of a waiter who he recognized as one of Andrews’s agents, Dane decided it was time for him to circulate. Heading into the ballroom, he spotted Andrews at three o’clock about twenty feet away. Scanning the crowd for tall women, he began eliminating the female guests he passed on his way to Agent Andrews.

Then he paused, only for a beat. Shana’s voice came through his earbud.

“I’ve spotted Emeline.”

“You sure? Where are you?” Dane spoke softly. Adrenaline crashed into his system like a rushing river breaking through a dam.

“Positive. I’m near the French doors along the west wall.”

Changing direction, he kept walking, not too fast, but efficiently through the groups of guests, in her direction. Dane zoomed in and spotted Shana and noticed where she flicked her gaze. He followed the line and then, sure enough, spotted the tallish woman, her back to him.

But he’d recognize the long line of that neck anywhere. People didn’t think about their body structure as dead giveaways, but they ought to. He’d studied the photos, but not the facial features as much as the lines of the bodies and any identifying quirks or measures. Dane scanned the woman and noted the muscular legs, rounded calves. Bingo. The photos they had weren’t full body shots, but he’d had a chance to observe the couple at the airport that day. He’d made the most of the opportunity.

“Keep her in your sights. Is her partner nearby?” Dane studied the men in her circle from close to her and then concentrically outward. On the third ring of her circular perimeter, he spotted his man.

“Got him.”

“You sure?” Shana said.

Then Andrews’s voice came on. “Keep watching but don’t do anything and don’t get too close. I’m moving my men into place now.

Dane circled around the opposite side of the two assassins while Shana stayed in place. He kept them all in his sights.

“I’m approaching from the west through the doors,” Cap’s voice came on.

“Hold your positions.” Andrews’s voice sounded like someone had his balls in a vise and he was having trouble breathing. Dane supposed his balls may as well be in a vise given the situation he was in, the responsibility he’d been charged with.

While Dane circled around behind Preston Chambers, Dane kept Shana and Emeline in his sights. So when Emeline turned toward Shana, he watched as his heart surged into his throat.

He closed in as fast as he could, listening to Andrews swearing in his ear. They could all hear Emeline when she spoke to Shana.

“I see you made it to our party.” She wasn’t surprised. That scared Dane more than anything else. Something was wrong with this picture and he was not waiting to find out what, to hell with Andrews shouting to his people to surround the room and wait.

“The President is coming downstairs now,” Andrews said. That was the last thing Dane needed to hear. He shut down his earpiece and moved in on Preston Chambers from behind, grabbing him so that he twisted an arm around his back as he shoved his Glock into the base of the man’s spine. He was shorter than Dane and smaller, but he was strong. He squirmed until Dane pinched his wrist on a pressure point that he knew would cause excruciating pain. He heard the man groan through his teeth.

They’d planned to take the couple as surreptitiously as possible into a nearby unoccupied room—the office off the front corridor where he’d changed. Andrews demanded that they cause as little commotion as possible. They’d invited lots of press to this party to give them access as promised in payment for their cooperation about the airport incident.

Dane would go along with this directive, but only so far. The minute anyone’s life was endangered, all bets were off.

Andrews had agreed.

It was getting perilously close to that point because Dane feared the couple’s plan in fact counted on chaos. He whispered in Preston’s ear.

“Walk with me or I shoot this gun and you’re either a paraplegic or you’re dead.”

*****

Shana moved in on Emeline and as she got close, it was as if the woman sensed her presence. Emeline turned and recognized Shana instantly. But she didn’t panic as Shana thought she would. She smiled and said, “I see you made it to our party.”

At that moment, Shana watched Dane take hold of Preston Chambers with a gun pressed against his spine.

Nodding her head in the direction of Preston, Shana said, “The party is over.”

Shana watched Emeline turn to see her lover and his face seized in pain as Dane walked with him in a quiet semicircle toward the door. She watched the woman size the situation up and waited for Andrews to give the go-ahead. Shana’s pulse grew loud enough to drown out the party noises. She steadied herself, tunneling in on the woman.

Dane kept moving Preston toward the door.

The beat before it happened, Shana knew. She saw Emeline lose her cool, lose control and panic. Emeline took something from her bag, some kind of plastic. Then Shana recognized the porcelain kitchen knife from Sassy’s shop.

There was no way Shana would allow herself to lose control the way Emeline had. Shana would not panic, but she burst forward the last steps to get herself in position, temples pounding, sweat popping on her forehead. Andrews yelled in her ear and agents closed in around her. Dane was less than two feet away and Emeline was quick footed as she lunged, her arm arcing up over her head with ballerina grace.

Shana saw the deadly move unfold, aware of several agents scrambling in her periphery. No one was close enough. She wasn’t close enough. She watched Preston Chambers duck as Emeline’s knife slashed toward Dane’s neck while he turned.

The scene seemed to be taking place in slow motion in her mind. Slow enough for her to pull her gun from her bag as she watched Preston duck, tugging himself from Dane’s grasp. Slow enough for her to take aim as she slid her finger on the trigger, slow enough for her to squint one eye and target Emeline’s temple from three feet away. She pulled the trigger.

Shana fired the gun at the same instant Emeline’s knife slashed forward arcing toward its target with terrible accuracy and force.

Dane had pulled back when he saw the knife coming, but not fast enough. Shana’s bullet hit Emeline’s temple in the same moment, frozen in Shana’s mind, as Emeline cut Dane’s flesh with her knife.

Blood spattered everywhere.