“I left the scissors in the pile of books over by the wall.”

The wall was four feet away. Four torturous feet away, but they had to try and get there, get themselves extricated from the chairs, and shut down the bomb before Dane got there. She took a deep calming breath, sweat already streaming and mixing with the blood on her face, head throbbing.

“You ready for this? We lift and push together until we reach the wall. Then we knock the pile of books over to dislodge the scissors. Got it?”

She felt Sassy nodding her head.

“On three.”

They lurched forward and made it to the wall with only three pushes and a little extra pain thanks to Sassy’s energy. It was easy to topple the pile of books with one shove using the corner of her chair. The scissors dislodged and clattered to the floor in front of her. According to the clock on the wall, only seven minutes had lapsed.

Shana wanted to weep with joy.

“We need to fall sideways, Sassy and I think it’s going to hurt, so prepare yourself.” They positioned the chairs so that when they fell her hand would land near the scissors. If she didn’t break anything in the process, she should be able to maneuver the scissors to cut the tape. Eventually.

“Ready? On three.”

They crashed and Shana bit her lip rather than cry out from the pain in her left shoulder. Sassy screamed.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine, it’s just that this cement is so hard. It’s just a bruise. I’ll be fine.”

“Where’s the bruise, Sassy?” Shana hoped it wasn’t her head. She struggled to grasp the scissors while she spoke.

“On my hip. It’s okay. Did you get the scissors?”

The blades were open and sharp and that was a good thing as Shana maneuvered one half of the scissors inside the tape binding her wrists. Ignoring the sting of her skin slicing she moved the blade up and down, pressing with her fingers, contorting them and applying pressure until they ached with cramps. But she kept going.

With her eyes squeezed shut against the pain and cramping and against the clock on the wall, she broke through the layers of duct tape and freed her hands.

“I’m free.” She pulled her arms from around the back of the chair and knelt. Then ignoring the minor cuts, she picked up the scissors and cut Sassy’s wrists free, noticing there were only two layers of duct tape. This struck her as odd, but there was no time now to dwell on it.

She helped Sassy to her feet and took her by the hand to the farthest corner of the basement from the stairs and behind a metal file cabinet.

“What are you doing?”

“You stay here while I go examine what kind of explosives they set up. It’s likely something simple with a detonator attached to a trip wire. If so, I’ll have us out of here in no time.”

She didn’t bother talking about plan B, what she would do if it wasn’t a simple tripwire explosive, because that’s all she was equipped to handle.

Sassy nodded her head and Shana ran in her bare feet to the bottom of the stairs, grabbing a flashlight from a shelf along the way. Shining the light on the door, she saw the wire, but oddly it appeared that the explosives were on the other side of the door. She started up the stairs when she heard the back door of the pie shop crash in.

“No, don’t touch the basement door!” She screamed as loud as she could, keeping the panic from her voice as she rushed to the top step, stopping short of the door.

“Dane, do you hear me? Don’t touch the basement door until you defuse the explosives.”

She heard commotion and the sound of two people pounding on the floorboards.

“Is that you, Shana? Are you in the basement?” It was Dane’s voice.

He was right on the other side, inches away.

“Do NOT touch the door. It’s wired with explosives.”

“Yes, I can see that. They made it obvious. Looks like they were trying to slow us down, but not kill us.”

She’d had the same impression, but that analysis would have to wait for another time.

“I have Cap with me. We’ll disarm this in no time. Get back down the stairs and far away.”

She didn’t answer. She didn’t move.

“Shana?”

“I’m right here.” She said the words so that they left no doubt she was staying right where she was. It was irrational as all hell, but she couldn’t make herself move away from him, not when he was risking his life to save hers.

This was all or nothing.

She heard a quiet conversation between Cap and Dane and some movement. Shana closed her eyes and did something she never did. She prayed.

“We’re cutting the wire. Cap knows what he’s doing.”

She heard more movement and then silence.

Then the door swung open and Dane stood in front of her. For an instant, he stared at her. She must look like shit, but his face told her it didn’t matter. His face told her he loved her. Before she could say a word, before she took another breath, he pulled her into his arms and hauled her from the basement stairs up into the hallway. The sinewy muscles of his arms bunched around her, his hands tightened over her, crushing her to his hard chest where his heartbeat pounded fiercely.

It was one of those hugs of a lifetime, the kind she would never forget, the kind she would want to relive in her old age to make her feel warm.

Cap brushed past them and she thought fleetingly of Sassy, but as she pressed her face into his neck, whispering words into his ear, she didn’t care about Sassy. She didn’t want to let go of this man, God help her.

They all piled into the convertible, Shana riding shotgun. She filled them in on what she’d learned from Preston and Emeline and reached over to take his hand. Dane wanted to hold her hand and drive off into the sunset, but it wasn’t in the plans for tonight. It was nearly seven p.m. and he knew all the world was looking for him, but since their priority was to keep an eye on the President at the same time, he had a chance. He might be able to stop the Chambers before they got to the President—without being arrested first.

“Did I mention to you that the President is not a double?” he said to no one in particular.

“Shit.” Cap banged a hand on the back of his seat. “Jam your foot on the damn accelerator, man.”

“Damn.” Shana leaned toward him, closer than before. He slid a look at her, but she was solid. No tears, only urgency. Her face looked battered and he had to look away to keep himself from driving her to the hospital right now.

Dane punched the gas pedal as far as it would go and swung onto the beach road. They sped around the curvy roads toward Tisdale and Gay Head beach where the President and his entourage were staying. He hoped to hell he would get to the estate unmolested by police cars, but it was a long shot.

“Cap, call the Governor on his private line.” He gave Cap the number.

“Tell him to clear the way for us, we’re coming in hot. And tell him Preston and Emeline are already at the party. Best guess is they’re dressed as servers.”

Cap made the call as Dane rounded a curve and saw flashing lights in the road ahead.

“Shit. Shit. Shit.”

He slowed the car and looked at Shana.

“I’ve seen myself in the mirror. I can’t help you today big boy. You’re on your own.”

Dane realized Shana didn’t know that he’d broken out of jail to get to her.

“Cap, you’re on. Take out your badge.”

Dane pulled the car over as the state policeman waved a flashlight waved toward the side of the road like a flagman on an airport runway.

“I have the Governor on the line.” Cap handed Dane the phone as the car stopped and he got out to confront the officer headed his way.

As soon as the officer recognized Cap, the stern demeanor changed to subordinate. There was a short conversation and some pointing at the road before Cap returned to the car. Dane watched all this while he listened to the Governor lecture him on the wisdom of breaking out of jail, and especially doing it with the gun of a federal agent.

“You finished? Because we’re headed your way and we need you to clear it for us.”

He felt Shana’s eyes on him. She’d heard Peter’s diatribe, but he couldn’t imagine her thoughts, didn’t have time.

“Clear it for you?” Peter said.

“We have Shana and Sassy and their intel is that the Chambers are there. Posing as servers, but I’m not so sure.”

“They talked about it explicitly. They said they were serving—” Shana leaned in and made sure Peter heard her.

“Why aren’t you so sure?” Peter asked.

“No imagination and it would be tough to pull off. The feds used a microscope and examined every aspect of the servers including their DNA. I think they’d have a better shot as posing as guests.”

“They’ve examined the guest list as well.”

“Sure, except for the people who are known celebrities, or people who are insiders, friends of the President and First Lady.”

“You’re telling me they’re posing as someone the President knows.”

“That’s where I’d put my money.”

“Problem is you’re betting with the President’s life.”

There was silence for a few beats.

“We’re arriving in less than five minutes. I’ll meet you at the security back door. I’d appreciate it if you could make sure no one shoots at me.”

“I can’t make any promises. But I’ll talk to Andrews.” The governor ended the call.

“He wasn’t very happy,” Shana said.

“Being in the middle of a shit-storm where the President’s life is at stake will do that to a person.”

“I meant about the part where he yelled at you for breaking out of jail. What did you do?” She didn’t sound mad or accusing. There was no sign of a scowl on her face, but that may have been because her bottom lip was the size of a small balloon animal and she couldn’t make a scowl if threatened at gunpoint.

“I’ll tell you all about it. Some day.”

“I’ll tell you if he doesn’t,” Cap said. Dane looked in the rearview mirror and noticed Sassy was asleep. With any luck, she would stay that way and miss the show.

Without slowing down, Dane veered the car left into a long drive leading to the back of the estate. There was a black SUV ahead across the drive and two armed agents standing by.

“Checkpoint number two. Reminds me of Iraq.” Dane stopped the car and hoped to hell Peter had talked fast or they were in trouble.

Cap got out of the car first and Dane didn’t move.

“I’ll get out and help.” Shana asked.

“Can’t hurt.”

Shana shoved the door open. Dane looked at his watch. Seven forty-five. Damn.

Cap spoke with the two agents and Shana joined them as Dane watched, but the SUV hadn’t moved and the agents hadn’t budged after nearly half a minute. Dane was contemplating his options when his cell buzzed.

He checked the ID and was surprised and not surprised to see that it was Andrews. He punched it in and put the phone to his ear. Half expecting another chewing out, harsher than the one from Peter, he set his jaw.

“We’re heading for the rear security entrance and ran into a roadblock, can you get us in?” Dane spoke before Andrews had a chance.

“I’m on it. You have Shana and Sassy?”

“Yes.”

“You have intel?”

Dane hesitated, but knew he had to let him know what Shana had heard, knew Peter had already told him. After he gave Andrews the story, he said, “But I don’t think that’s their real plan. Preston Chambers is a clever man with a multilayered plan. I think the only reason he left Shana and Sassy with a half-baked explosive so easily disassembled was that he wanted her to misinform us. I also don’t think the posing as server plan is feasible.”

“I agree with you. Come through. I’ll have them unblock the drive to let you by. But I’m warning you now. Just because I agree with you and I’m letting you inside does not mean that you’re off the hook for what you did to my man back at the jail.”

“I didn’t expect you’d let me off the hook.”

Dane ended the call and the two agents got inside the car and pulled it over while Cap and Shana returned. Andrews worked fast. Dane couldn’t help admiring the man in spite of the fact that he was Secret Service.

“You called Andrews, didn’t you?” Shana said as Dane pulled the car forward to a parking spot at the unmarked windowless security door.

“Not exactly.”

“You like being cagey far too much.” She moved to get out of the car, but he held her arm. She turned to him with a question on her face. It was tougher to read her than ever when she looked like that, swollen and bruised and bloodied.

“I want you to get cleaned up and to see a doctor. You’ve had a concussion.”

“Right, Doctor Dane. Tomorrow. First thing.” She pulled from his grasp and got out of the car as the security door opened. He let her go because he had no choice. He had a job to do. They all needed to do their job.

They needed to stop Preston and Emeline Chambers from killing the President.