Page 52 of Beachcomber Danger

Then Dane took off out the back door and jumped into the driver’s seat. It was always where he was most comfortable and it felt good to be back.

They picked up a tail and two cars surrounded them with lights and sirens. Dane got out and Andres got out of one of the fed’s cars.

“Did you think I didn’t know what you were up to? Where is she?”

“What the hell are you doing, Andrews? I told you I’d be back at 7 p.m.”

“Where is Shana?”

Dane didn’t speak. He didn’t want the feds messing this up, turning it into a shoot-out blood bath with no concern about killing the two innocent bystanders. He’d seen enough of this operation to know there was a lot of excitement in the agents to be the one to get the assassins, the one to save the President.

There was definitely a shoot first and ask questions later mentality that he didn’t want to test once they got into the close confines of Sassy’s pie shop.

“Where the hell is she? I know you know. You were in a hurry to go somewhere. You know where she is and you know the assassins have her.”

Andrews got in his face, standing within a foot of him. Dane looked down into the agent’s eyes without flinching. He noticed in his peripheral that two men had hold of Acer and Acer had his you-can-torture-me-until-I’m-dead face in place.

“Don’t give me this stonewall act or I’ll have you thrown in jail.”

“You’re too smart to do that. You’re not Goodley.” As soon as Dane had uttered the words, he knew he’d made a mistake. This was no time to diss Goodley even if he was justified. Goodley was Andrews’s partner and he was hurt, probably still in intensive care.

“Take him in.” Andrews turned and three Secret Service agents who’d been standing by his side grabbed Dane, pulled his arms behind him and plastic-cuffed his wrists within three seconds. They did the same to Acer.

Damn.

They brought him and Acer to State Police Headquarters and down to the basement to the lock-up area. Dane figured they’d keep them in separate cells—the only two available. They were under the watchful eyes of the two staties on duty, Mike and Frank. He’d beat them both at poker at Cap’s Friday night game the week before. He hoped they didn’t hold that against him right now.

Andrews appeared within a moment after Mike and Frank made their apologies and went to stand guard and wait for instructions. Dane knew he could get out of here. He hoped to hell Cap and the two staties would forgive him for what he’d have to do.

“This is for your own good,” Andrews said. “You should have told me Shana was missing.” He paused.

Dane said nothing. He’d be out of there soon enough. Even if he trusted Andrews, he still didn’t trust the federal agents under his command, and especially not the agents not under his command from DHS and the FBI and who knew where else. They’d swarmed the island and Dane could smell the blood lust permeating the air wherever he spotted the agents. They were everywhere and even those not assigned might get wind and want in on the operation to catch the assassins.

There was no way Dane would try to explain his concern to Andrews. He was a smart man and he’d figured things out this far. He knew without being told why Dane didn’t trust anyone but himself and his team to get Shana and Sassy out of there. It was simple really.

Shana was his priority.

Dane couldn’t give a f—ck about bringing Preston and Emeline to justice. Not really. That would come later.

Dane wanted only one thing when it came down to it. He wanted Shana out of this alive and unscathed. Period. Everything else was secondary. Even Sassy was secondary, damn his soul to hell.

“You’re a stubborn SOB,” Andrews said after several more beats of silence. “Have it your way. I can’t let you go after her. You know the Chambers couple has Shana. We’ll find her. Last word is NSA has a lead on a phone call. To you.”

Dane swore in his head, but didn’t give anything away to Andrews, the smart bastard.

Andrews paused another beat.

“We’ll find Shana. You leave it to us.”