Shana gave the coded rap on the basement door and Acer let her inside his new home away from home. Shana noticed he’d set up more equipment since they were down there earlier, placing everything along the back wall, ready and waiting to be closed in.

Dane arrived as she entered and closed in behind her. He’d been staying very close, insinuating himself in a seductively intimate posture any time he could manage it—which happened to be with unnerving frequency.

Where had the cool, competitive-to-the-point-of-combative man whom she’d agreed to marry gone?

This had to be temporary. This had to be that hot, passionate honeymoon-like phase of their relationship. She’d heard of this phase where a couple couldn’t bear being apart, couldn’t possibly keep their hands off each other. It had to stop.

She smiled inside. They’d always had that kind of attraction. The only difference now was that they’d stopped bothering to fight it.

Should she be ashamed that she missed the fight, the challenge of seduction? Was it wrong to not want it to be too easy?

“Just in time for some crazy-ass intel,” Acer said with a serious-as-Satan look.

The reminder sobered her, tearing her thoughts from how easy and quick she and Dane were to satisfy their passion. There was no question that that line of thought, that level of attraction, if left undisciplined, could get them killed. No question that the easy seductions would have to go, that they had to be scrupulously professional going forward on this assignment. No more allowing hedonistic distraction.

Shana needed to become impervious to carnal temptation, needed to become her former icy self even if Dane seemed to have lost the ability. More so because of it, though she knew he could rein it in. She hoped it was not one of those genie-out-of-the-bottle circumstances.

“I have more. You ready to hear it?”

“Make it quick.” Dane focused on Acer.

“On the cell leader—his name is Zane Zarate he’s either an ISIS cell loner or not an ISIS cell leader at all. He has no partners in crime, no other cell members. He could be just a nut with a grudge and questionable funding.”

“And the assassins?” Shana asked.

She felt Dane behind her, but he didn’t touch her. She told herself that was a good thing even if it felt all wrong. She wanted to get out of this secret room and its intimacy as fast as possible.

“I’d suspected this was no ordinary cell. According to the Governor, the cell that had been activated consisted of one person so that squares with what you found. Homeland Security had eyes on him.”

“I got his identity. He’s a college professor. I’m still trying to identify the two people he’s in communication with. He sent money to them. As far as I can tell so far, Homeland Security’s man Zarate—code named Professor Doom—

“How the hell do you—.” Shana was cut off by Dane.

“We don’t need to know how you know the DHS code name.”

“Fine. Get on with it then.” Shana’s discomfort grew in the form of jittery nerves. She dismissed the thought that it might be from having Dane close, but not close enough, the strain of controlling her need for him with his body next to hers.

Acer nodded. “Our Professor Doom has done nothing else. Sent the money. No other activity observed prior or since.”

“What else would he be expected to do?” Shana wasn’t sure.

“Procure and send weapons, arrange false identification, send instructions. All he’s provided is the target and the money,” Acer said.

Shana turned to Dane. He’d been staring at the floor. She hoped he had some insight. This was outside her experience. She’d dealt with the mob, gangs and cartels, but never had a case involving ISIS or terrorist cells. Maybe that was the real source of her discomfort, not Dane.

As Dane listened, it all sounded familiar, reminiscent of his days in Chicago on the HVT—the High Value Team made up of multitalented undercover detectives with SWAT expertise. They’d heard this kind of intel related to mob hits. He took a breath and voiced his suspicion.

“This terrorist assassination plot has all the earmarks of a hired hit.”

“How do you want to play this?” Acer said.

He and Dane could get in trouble if the Secret Service found out they’d been doing illegal hacking. More trouble than they’d be in anyway, but they couldn’t sit on this information.

“We need to make sure the Secret Service or Homeland Security has this intel. We can’t assume they already have it. The stakes are too high. We need to deliver it to Peter. In person.”

“You want me to go to Boston? Now?”

“No. The Governor is coming here. He’ll be at the big party at the President’s vacation home tomorrow night. I can get it to him either before the event or at the event. You keep a low profile. No one knows you’re here. Let’s keep it that way. I’ll have Ronnie help you build out the false walls later tonight.”

“We’ll create a hideaway for the goods. I’ll find enough space to work in. I’ve stayed in worse places. At least I get plenty of beer and burgers here.”

Dane half smiled. “Stay sober. We’re dealing with very cagey pros. Worse than dealing with crazy terrorists. When you go out, cover up.”

Acer nodded. “Disguises are my favorite. I brought a doozie with me.”

“Will I recognize you?”

“Sure. You’ve seen this guy before.”

Dane checked his watch and lowered his voice.

“Assassins are more dangerous than the typical suicidal terrorist victim. But their Achilles’ heel is that they want to live. And they do not want to get caught.” A surge in adrenaline bubbled in his chest. “We can use that knowledge against them.”

“That doesn’t explain what the Secret Service wants with us,” Shana said. “We should get out of here. They’re going to be looking for us in the restrooms and then the parking lot and they already suspect we came downstairs earlier.”

“Another minute. I have Tom watching the door.” Dane knew Jones couldn’t stop the agents, but he could make sure Dane had fair warning and slow them down. Besides, he was banking on the Secret Service not wanting to make a commotion. They’d cool their heels until Dane and Shana reappeared and then give them a hard time. They’d likely face a grilling by Andrews and Goodley when they got home.

“It’s clear that they’re using us to flush the assassins out, but how?” Shana said.

Dane stood still as a mountain, facing a wall but not seeing it.

“They don’t want us to know what they’re doing—why?” He asked his own rhetorical question.

What’s the worst possible thing they could be doing?

But Shana answered because she was smart and quick minded and, in this case, too literally dead-on.

“Because they’re setting us up as targets.”

Her words fell on them, blanketing the room with dark foreboding. And the resonance of certainty.

He turned to her and didn’t check his impulse to touch her this time. He reached a hand out and pulled on a tendril of her hair, letting it thread through his fingers.

“You’re right. Now we need to come up with the how.” Dane looked to Acer.

Acer shrugged.

“Maybe you two ought to consider—”

“This is the damn President’s life at stake. We’re in this.” Dane softened his words and flashed a glance at Shana. “But not as sacrificial lambs.”

“How does a couple, who happen to mirror the assassins themselves, flush them out? What’s the thing about us that would make them react?” Dane asked them as the idea formed in his head.

Shana looked up with a lightning spark of understanding.

“A mirror. Like we’re a second pair of assassins.”

“How the hell does the Secret Service or DHS get the real assassins to think you two are a pair of assassins?”

“They don’t,” Dane said to Acer. “But the NSA might have some tricks up their sleeves—”

“Shit damn,” Acer said. “Let me check a couple of things. He rushed to his suite of computers and began tapping away.

Dane stood behind the man. “We don’t have a lot of time here. Is there a way you can short-cut this to confirm our suspicions?”

“I’m going into your backgrounds now, checking some sites on the dark web. Shouldn’t take more than another minute or two.”

Dane straightened and watched Shana pace in a circle, staring at the stained cement floor. His mind buzzed with the underhanded manipulation they’d uncovered and what to do about it, but he still noticed how the dress swirled around her hips, fell across her ass, left her golden tanned back bare. Then when she turned toward him, the luscious outline of her breasts under the slinky black material nearly made him go to her. He met her eyes instead.

It wasn’t worry, but maybe concern he saw under the hardened resolve.

“Shit,” Acer said and rolled his office chair back from the table.

Dane snapped his attention back to business, not forgetting that concern he’d seen—hell, he’d felt it too—but pushing it down deep.

Shana joined him and Acer to look at the two giant monitors at the work station.

“I found your pictures planted with fake identities and backgrounds on the dark web site that’s known for hits for hire,” Acer said. “Shit. I’m sorry.” He banged a fist on the thick board that served as his desk.

“Never mind that,” Dane said.

“I don’t know how the Secret Service fooled with your website. I designed it to be virtually hack-proof. But they’ve altered it and put it up on the dark web.”

“They’re working with the NSA, pal. They had a whole team of people to outmaneuver you.”

Dane stared at grainy distant pictures of a man and woman who were likely him and Shana. Not too precise to be identifiable, but enough to give them up if someone was looking. Shana was over his shoulder seeing the same thing.

“What do we do about this?” Shana asked. “Besides tell the Governor?”

“We need to find out how high up this plan goes—see who knows about it. The Governor can help with that.”

“And in the meantime?” Shana asked

“We have no choice. It’s the President’s life at stake. We’ll need to go along. Acer, you get us photos of the assassins—do they have a code name?”

“I’ll find out. If it exists, I’ll get you some photo ID. I’ll get everything I can on their MO.”

“Good. We’ll need to make it a fair fight, though I don’t think they’ll off us without getting as much intel from us as they can first.”

“What about Zarate—Professor Doom?”

“We’ll leave it to DHS to watch him or bring him in. Looks like his role is money man and we’re too far along to worry about him now. But keep tabs in case.”

“Great,” Shana said. “We’re going to call Andrews and Goodley on this setup, right?”

Dane smirked, not hiding his delight. Neither the Secret Service, DHS or NSA would expect him to have discovered their set up, the altered website and identity on the dark web. “That’ll be the fun part. We’ll have a chat with them tonight since we’ll be going to the airport tomorrow morning as Mr. & Mrs. Assassin.”

“You’re enjoying this too much to not be part devil.” Shana eyed him.

Acer laughed. “Part devil?”