Special thanks to Janet Evanovich for allowing us to use her characters and dream up our own stories. All mistakes are mine, but I plead guilty for working at my computer instead of playing outside. Then again, when I started writing this tale, it was -40!

Chapter 1

Ranger sat at his desk on five with papers strewn over the top.

He looked at the picture on the desk and smiled that little smile that was reserved for only one person in his life, his Babe. Stephanie Manoso was dressed in her RangeMan uniform with a Kevlar vest on and her web belt with all the standard equipment. Yeah, he was a bit biased as her husband, but did she look hot!

Life was good, in fact it was so good that he sometimes wondered if God had finally rewarded him for all the good things he had done in his life that were beginning to outweigh all the bad.

Speak of the devil and there was a soft knock on the door and Steph walked into his office. She was carrying a brown package in one hand and her face was uncharacteristically blank.

Ranger pushed back from his desk and stood up, stepping around the massive furniture to take her in his arms. She melted into his embrace unconsciously drawing strength from her man.

She spoke into his chest. "This came by courier addressed to me, and the guys downstairs brought it up."

She lifted her arm and twisted the package around from front to back.

"There is no return address. We put a call in but the courier office said it was dropped off at their local depot for delivery. We asked for a copy of the tape from the reception area of the depot and the images that came back show someone about five and a half feet tall. Their features were obscured by a large hat with the brim pointed downward and they were wearing gloves."

Ranger looked at her and spoke.

"What do you think Babe? What's your spidey sense saying?"

Steph chewed on her bottom lip before answering. "My life has pretty much been an open book, but how about just you and I see this together first."

Both of them were silent but they both figured that whatever was in that bag was not going to be good news. Good news never came in plain brown bags with no return address.

Ranger guided her around his desk and sitting down, he pulled her onto his lap. Unconsciously once again, she leaned into him.

Taking a deep breath as if for courage, she held the bag with one hand and pulled the tab opening the top with the other. Putting the now released tab onto the desk, she pushed on each side of the bag peeking inside. There was a folded piece of paper and she pulled it out, holding it by the edges. The writing was in a larger font and was all in capitals.

YOU THINK YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE? WELL, TAKE A LOOK AT THIS.

Stephanie looked in the bag and pulled out a CD case.

Ranger pulled his phone from the holder and texted.

'Core team in my office.'

There was an immediate shuffle of boots moving and the door opened. Les stood in the doorway and he was on the phone.

"As soon as you can, get back here buddy," and he hung up.

Tank strode down the hallway to the doorway, and literally shoved Les into the room. With his massive bulk there was no doubt that if he wanted to go somewhere, well, let's just say that not many men could stop that locomotive of a man.

Les spoke. "Bobby's on his way back from the hospital with Barker. No broken bones, but he's going to be feeling the effects tomorrow."

Les sat on the couch, and Tank moved to the massive armchair by the desk. Ranger continued to sit with Stephanie on his lap.

A text came in to Tanks' phone. He looked at it, typed something, and returned it to his holder.

"Nothing to worry about, Ranger. One of our trucks has a mechanical issue and Al is on his way with the flatbed. He'll advise us what's going on when he figures it out."

Les sat with his phone in his hand. His thumbs were flying over the keys and he chortled as an explosion erupted through the tiny speaker.

Ranger looked at him. "Are you playing games on company time, Santos?"

Les looked up as another explosion sounded. "This is a great game, Ranger and it'll keep our reflexes really, really sharp. I think we should have it downloaded onto all the guys' phones so they can stay sharp too."

Tank snorted. "Yeah, is that along the line that last month we should have downloaded Modern Combat 5 so the guys could practice their close combat and sniper training?"

Ranger glared at Les. "Get rid of it, now. If you want to play that shit, get your own phone and do it on your own time. I'm paying you to work."

Les looked crestfallen but hit the end button. His voice took on a slightly whiney tone. "I was in first place today. Now I have to start all over."

Ranger looked at Les. If he was number one, how long had he been playing? Looking at the clock, it was now almost 1400. The daily meeting ended at 0800 and Les had stated that he had a ton of paperwork needing his attention for the rest of the day. He had been at his cubicle all day except for a dash to the breakroom for something for lunch and a washroom visit.

Ranger looked at Les. "Mats, 0500 tomorrow, and bring your phone. Let's see how well you can defend yourself one handed and not get your ass kicked, again."

Les blanched, but nodded. He'd have to work fast and talk faster to save his beloved Samsung. He'd heard that Hector was muttering about how tired he was replacing phones damaged during work. It was rumored that he had found some antiquated flip phones in a box out of the way in a storeroom.

Was Les about to be the first one to be penalized with that old brick of a thing? Life would get very boring if he had to go back to hunting for each letter on the tiny keypad, no internet to tap into, and no video or Facebook. Worst of all, his 'special file' would be unavailable. It could be a travesty in the making!

The men were used to silence with no unnecessary chatter and they waited patiently for Bobby to arrive. There was a ding on Rangers' phone and he looked at it then stated, "Bobby's back."

The men were watching the door as Bobby knocked and walked in.

"Nothing was broken as confirmed by the x-rays, but Barker's going to need light duty for a week. Next time, I believe that he'll remember our rules about rushing into a situation without proper back-up."

Ranger looked at Tank and he nodded. Barker would be receiving some obviously much needed reminders on safety procedures and back-up regulations.

Ranger then looked at Stephanie. She passed the note to Tank who read it, and handed it over to Les and Bobby. It was now in a clear evidence baggie. The men looked at each other than back at Stephanie.

"Ok, Babe, let's see what's on the CD."

Stephanie took out a CD from the case and handed it to Ranger to insert in his laptop. He motioned and everyone stood up and moved around the desk to see what was on the disk.

There was a request for a password, and they all looked at each other. WTH! This wasn't their disk. Where to start?

Ranger pulled his phone out and pressed a button.

"Hector, my office and bring your laptop."

The men looked at each other, then at Ranger.

Ranger looked back at the men. "He's been working with some new software."

Hector knocked on the door and walked in.

Ranger removed the CD from his computer and handed it to Hector.

"This came by courier and there's a note and this CD. I tried to open it and it requires a password."

Hector, who now had his own computer on the desk beside Ranger inserted the CD into the slot and started to press buttons. His fingers flew over the keys and words and messages scrolled across the screen. The men watched with interest and both Ranger and Stephanie continued to sit in the chair waiting.

As the laptop worked, Hector spoke in heavily accented English.

"People are so lazy when it comes to passwords. The top three passwords have been identified as either: password, 12345 or 123456. Other favorites are qwerty, welcome, and even iloveyou."

He shook his head in disgust.

There was the old adage 'why stand when you can sit', and while they waited for Hector to perform his magic skills on the CD, they all retired back to where they had been seated, silent but watching him as he continued to work.

Hector spoke in heavily accented English since Stephanie did not speak Spanish.

"Boss, any hints to help me?"

Ranger shook his head. "Nothing, I'm afraid."

Hector nodded his head and began to press more buttons.

"I'm going to put through possible password combinations. First we try the months of the year, days of the week, then years. People don't like to take too much time figuring out combinations."

Ranger and Stephanie had front row seats watching Hector work.

Lots of combinations were scrolling across the screen too fast to register, but soon there was a number that appeared on the screen. It was a 1. More scrolling, more numbers flashed then lit up on the screen. The final number flashed on the screen.

Looking at the password, it read, 19811012.

Hector stood up. Motioning the men back over, he pointed to the screen and nodded. There were four pdf's. He pulled a cord out of his pants pocket and attached it to Rangers' printer, printing off the entire disk.

Ranger reached over and grabbed the sheets and handed them to Stephanie to look at first. Mind you, he had his head over her shoulder as she looked at one picture, then slid it behind the others.

One picture was of a girl standing near a building. The sun was shining on palm trees behind her. She looked young, and happy. She was eating an ice cream cone and from her facial expression, she really liked her snack.

Looking at the next picture, she shook her head and slid it behind. The third picture, she stared at it for at least a minute before sliding it behind the others. Same with the fourth.

Her expression was quizzical, almost confused.

Looking at the two of them, the men could clearly see that Rangers' emotions were solidly hidden behind a blank expression. Taking the pictures gently out of her hands, he passed the pictures to Tank.

He looked at them quickly then handed them to Les and Bobby who were standing close together. Other than a tightening of their facial features, nobody said a word.

There were pictures of a young girl with a baby. She looked directly at the camera but it was obvious that her posture was stiff and her eyes showed sadness and almost fear. She was standing on a sidewalk with a row house behind her.

There was a picture of the young girl in a hospital bed, and a newborn baby in her arms. She looked very tired but was looking down with a very serene expression as the young one suckled at her breast.

Another picture looked like it had been cut in half not showing the person standing beside her. They could just glimpse an arm pulling her against someone, almost possessively. It looked like a man's fairly hairy arm and a bit of a tattoo just peeking out. The baby was wrapped in a blanket being held by the mother.

The men looked at Stephanie then back at the woman in the photos. None of the men had known Stephanie when she was a teenager, but to all intents and purposes, the woman in the picture bore a very striking resemblance.

The blanket had slipped a little bit in one picture and a tiny face could be seen. The baby had curly hair.

Stephanie had continued to look at the photo of the young girl holding the baby. She noticed the curly hair, the facial characteristics, and the general physique of the mother.

Bobby was the first to speak.

"Uh, Bomber, are you sure your mom and dad are your birth parents?"

()()()()()

Authors Note – password popularity was provided by both Google and Wikipedia.

Myrna