Page 41 of Beachcomber Danger
“I can’t promise anything, but I’ll request a read-in for you three in this to find out what DHS and NSA know, though I suspect someone else is pulling the strings.”
“The Secret Service?”
The Governor paused and Dane read the silence loud and clear.
“Whoever it is, it may be out of my area of influence. If so, I’m going to have you two pulled out of this.”
“I don’t think that’s possible,” Dane said. What he meant was that he didn’t think it was the Governor’s call. He also knew Peter would know exactly what he meant. All of them knew. He breathed through a few more beats of silence.
“Keep me posted and keep a phone with you.” With that Peter signed off.
“Well that wasn’t helpful,” Shana said.
Dane would have said something flip then to break the tension, but his cell phone rang. The Secret Service-issued phone. Shana and Acer looked at him as he pulled it from his pocket and gave it a look. It rang again. It was Andrews of course. Or Goodley.
“No use putting off talking to them.”
“You realize if you do they’ll pin down your location?” Acer cautioned.
The phone rang again.
“Then we’d better be on our way.” He scooped up Shana’s hand and headed out from behind the wall into the room. “Let’s go out the front door.”
The phone rang for a fourth time.
“Are you going to answer that?” Shana said as they walked up the stairs.
“If you insist.” He pressed the green dot and put the phone to his ear.
“Damn it to hell, Blaise, what the hell are you doing and where the hell are you?”
“Where the hell are you?”
“I just pulled into your driveway.”
Dane waited for more because there’d been something in Andrews’s voice, a hesitation, a break from the anger and frustration, something unsure. And very uncharacteristic.
“What is it, Andrews?”
“Captain Lynch’s car is here—get here as soon as you can.” The agent ended the call on a distracted note.
That triggered the go-time response in Dane’s system, a familiar series of inner workings, some instinct, some learned and controlled, all well-practiced. His pulse ticked up as the adrenaline began to flow and his muscles tensed to ready. His thoughts flew while his mind slowed down time and he controlled his breathing, steady and calm. His insides cooled with the glacial hardness of resolve.
“What is it?” Shana’s voice was calm, if a pitch higher than usual. Her go-time response was more reckless than his, all fiery and reactive. But her mind was quick and she had adroit control. He’d seen her change gears mid-sentence when the situation called for it.
“Trouble back at the shack.” He floored the gas pedal and the Jeep shot forward—not like a race car, but the vehicle was more limber than an ordinary Jeep. Dane had seen to that.
Neither of them spoke for the next two and a half minutes while they raced back to the shack. Home. Keeping his mind blank, Dane refused to contemplate what he might find there.
