Page 32 of Beachcomber Enemy

“Not considering he was holding the detonator.” Dane would need to let them know she’d been unconscious, without Ronnie knowing.

“Shana tells me you didn’t like my surprise announcement at the press conference.”

Dane shrugged as he dropped his gear and grabbed a slice of pizza.

“It was hard to tell if your announcement had any impact one way or another. But the important thing is Sassy is still alive.” For the moment. Dane felt confident they all heard the unspoken words.

“Let’s talk about how we’re handling the funeral tomorrow,” Shana said.

Cap said, “We’ll have it covered with ninety percent of those in attendance in law enforcement, uniformed and undercover. Everyone is well briefed on the targets. I made up that shit about Australia CIC sending me the intel so we have an official reason to suspect him. I went out on a limb—”

“Temporarily, Cap. Once everyone knows Shana and I are alive you’re off the hook. We’ll have plenty of evidence of Nash’s guilt for you then.”

“As for that—Peter and I think it would be best if you let us take care of this officially from here on in. Neither of you needs to be at the funeral.”

Dane went still. He’d gone to Peter to run interference.

“How about at the house?” Joe said.

Cap was silent on that. Dane stared at him. They’d already discussed this. He knew well the peril of the hostage situation.

“Fine, you handle the house. If we’re lucky. No one will be there except Sassy.”

“Wired to a bomb,” Ronnie said. His voice simmered with stifled rage.

“I don’t like it, Shana said. “I need to be at the funeral to ID Nash positively. He’ll be disguised for sure now that he knows you’re onto him.”

“No.” Both Dane and Cap spoke at once.

“I agree with them,” Joe said. “You’ll only make it that much more difficult to catch him. We’ll be too worried about your safety.”

“I say let her go,” Ronnie said.

“Thanks, Ronnie, but these stooges are all forgetting that it’s a free country and short of tying me up and putting me in a closet, they can’t stop me from going.”

Dane was afraid she was right. And he wasn’t past doing exactly that.

“You show up at the funeral you better not be dressed as a biker chick,” Cap said.

“Fine. What do you have in mind? I don’t exactly have a wardrobe available here.”

“I bet Cap has some clothes he can lend you back at his house. You can dress as a man.” He’d almost tripped on the words, but he was talking and planning on the fly now. “We’ll swing by there before we head to the funeral. You and me. Joe will give us a ride and then swing back to cover the house with Ronnie.”

No one blinked at his outrageous suggestion.

“What about me?” Ronnie said.

“You cover Sassy’s house with Joe. You wait for him to pick you up. When you get there, call in the bomb squad or whoever else you need if Sassy is alone and can’t be extricated without risking a booby trap or explosive detonation,” Dane said. He felt Cap’s eyes on him as he issued commands. It was no more than he’d always done, but this time Cap’s tension was palpable. It was as if the man’s tolerance for his leadership had dissipated into thin air.

Ronnie nodded.

Dane felt lucky that Cap hadn’t raised a question about his suggestion that they go to his house for Shana’s disguise. If he knew Dane had something up his sleeve, he was playing it cool.

“Then it’s all settled.” With a satisfied smile, Shana folded her arms across her chest. “I’m kind of looking forward to my funeral. I only hope my mum hasn’t gotten wind of it back in Australia.”

“I haven’t seen any international news outlets at the press conferences or around the station,” Cap said, “But news travels fast in the world of social media, so brace yourself.”

“Maybe you ought to brace yourself, Cap, once her mum finds out you held the funeral without her.” He smiled and went to Shana, wrapping his arm around her whether she liked it or not. They were still engaged to be married. Until—well, until they got married if Dane had any say in it. He wasn’t going to let her back out without a fight. No matter how angry she was now, he had to believe they could overcome the issue of his heavy-handed protectiveness. To his surprise, she didn’t pull away from him.