Chapter3

RPOV

I'd spent a week in Boston going through the end of year reports and had done the same at Miami, now I was looking forward to getting back to Trenton, tomorrow morning I had a flight booked back and couldn't wait. I'd spent time with Julie this week so felt that my time hadn't been totally wasted. In fact we were getting on better than we had done before. I'd never planned on staying in her life, but after the whole Scrogg incident she seemed to need the contact, and so did I. I enjoyed being with her, listening to what she'd been up to and how she was doing at school. Rachel was accommodating, but laid down strict boundaries, I'm sure she thought I'd just desert Julie like she seemed to think I'd done to her. As I closed down my computer my cell phone rang, a look at the caller had me swearing.

"Sir"

"Where are you Ranger?"
"Miami"

"Need you here, noon tomorrow"

"Where and how long"

"You know better than to ask that"

And he was gone. I did not want to go on this mission, I wanted to go home, but I knew that a call would come sooner or later because I'd said that this would be my last one. No signing my life away again. I was too old for this shit, and there were other things I wanted to do. My affairs were all taken care of, I'd made sure of that before my last mission, my family, friends but most of all Steph would benefit should I not return. My Babe, I needed to call her, she never expected me to, but for some reason I felt I had to. I hit the button for her and was surprised when it went straight to voicemail, so undeterred I called her apartment number, strange the answer machine kicked in.

"Hi Babe, I think you need to charge your mobile up, so I'm leaving a message here instead. I know I said I'd be gone a few weeks checking up with the other offices, but something's come up and I may not be around for a while. If you need anything then talk to Tank, Babe, don't hesitate; you know he'll help you. Please take care and I'll see you when I get back, I promise"

That was all I could do, strange I'd really wanted to hear her voice tonight; the amusement in it and the inflection from what I might have said. I was missing her, probably more than I realized, what was that all about? Never mind, I needed to talk with Tank next.
"Ranger, I thought you were back tomorrow, what's wrong?"
"Being called out"

"Shit, I thought you'd finished with them?"

"Yeah well, they obviously decided to hit me with one last mission before the end date"

"You know anything about it?"

"No, no information at all"

"Real strange because Santos got a call this evening as well"

"We haven't been put together for a long time, he know anything?"

"No, same response as what you probably got"

"Tank, I tried to call Stephanie, but she's obviously busy or her phone is dead"

"Probably the last one, it's been real quiet on that front, in fact we haven't had any skips from Vinnie this week, come to think about it"

"Keep an eye on her will you?"

"Ranger, I do that anyway. She means a lot to me and the men here"

"Thanks for that Tank, but you know what she's like"

"Yeah I know, too independent to ask for help, but we'll keep an eye on where she goes"

I finished the call, and let out a sigh, yeah me sighing. Next I had to change my flights for tomorrow and then go upstairs and get my ready bag checked over, I always kept one at each of the offices just in case a call came through. I wasn't overly worried about the call but the fact that Santos was going as well had me feeling apprehensive, we were the best and for us both to be called meant some serious shit must be going down.

I never slept well before a mission, I had to get into a mindset and I was finding it difficult to center myself, that's why I would visit Steph before I left, for some reason she helped to ground me, even if it was to simply watch her sleep. She always looked so perfect asleep, never still, and her movement and sounds always stirred something inside of me, a wanting, and not just for sex, because with her it had never been just sex. I'd never spent the night asleep with another woman before her, but with her, even when she'd refused the sex, I felt a connection with her, a harmony I'd never experienced before. For the first time I didn't want her to get back with Morelli and I wanted her to be with me.

The flight up to Washington was uneventful, I'd had to get a commercial flight up there, as there were no usual military places available, I transferred across to the military base and proceeded to the building and conference room where all mission briefings occurred. Santos was already there so I went to sit next to him.

"You know what's going on Ranger?"

"No, nothing was said"

"Well I heard that there are two teams in play, but neither will know about the other, which to me is more than stupid"

The door opened and the Colonel walked in handing us both a file.

"Gentlemen"

"Sir"

"I know this call came at short notice but we have a situation that needs to be dealt with. I know you two work well together, so on to business. You have some reading material in front of you, read and digest, I'll give you an hour"

The file wasn't that thick but as I read the contents the need to act became apparent.
"Shit Ranger, they think there are nukes out there waiting to be brought over here?"

That's what the file said, I just looked at Santos; sometimes he said the obvious. The government was concerned that a small nuclear device could be brought into the United States and needed Intel and information on the buyer. Once they had that information then another team would take out the buyer and retrieve the device, to hopefully dismantle it. The Colonel had returned so I assumed he was ready to give us more information before shipping us out.

"What's in the file is a simplistic overview. We have no idea who the buyer is, which is where you two come in, I need you to identify the buyer, if you illuminate the seller, then so be it"

"Colonel what if we locate the device?"

"We'll send a specialized team in to deal with the device, we need to know who the buyer is Captain, otherwise he'll just go to someone else. He's our target, we know there are all sorts of weapons out there on the black market, we're never going to stop that, but an American prepared to kill is unacceptable"

All right I could see where he was coming from, how could someone kill innocent Americans in there own land unless they were mad or totally devout to the Islamic indoctrination?

"What information do you have for us to follow?"

"Not a lot, I want you to go in as civilians, your cover will be as civil engineers, but once you're there you do your thing"

"Extraction?"

"The usual, helicopter from one of the bases out there, but I've set up a contact for you to call me directly, I'm not sure how secure our secure lines of communication are"

"Are you saying we have a leak?"

"No, I'm saying that I want direct communication with you"

"When do we leave?"

"Tonight, so you need to pack and get ready, remember you'll have to obtain any weapons once you're out there. That's why you have Santos with you"

He grinned; yeah Santos thought his contacts out in Iraq were a secret.

Santos and I had to rethink everything that we could now take with us, and have appropriate clothes for the flight. By 2300 we were sat on a commercial flight going to Baghdad, it was going to be a long flight with one stop over, and luckily the Colonel had booked us first class tickets so that we could try to sleep. Needless to say the plane for the second leg was exceptionally quiet so it gave us a chance to put some sort of plan in place.

"How good are your contacts out there Santos?"

"They're good, generally I trust them but never give them the full story. They're good with rumors and gossip, seem to hear where any action is going down, they just don't seem to be able to connect the dots and see the relevance of what they know. They'll get us equipment no problem and seeing as the Colonel gave us a lot of cash that shouldn't be a problem"

"So we start in Baghdad, where can we stay?"

"There's a small building I've used before that has small apartments, I'll sort that out when we land"

"Transport, I'll find us something, we'll need something reliable and all terrain"

"What equipment do you want?"

"Well we have binoculars and mikes and ear buds, so the usual, hand guns, knives, stun grenades, just the stuff in our normal go packs"

"All right, I'll get a full med kit as well, just in case"

By the time we had landed I felt organized; once Santos had our accommodation sorted we could start the arduous task of collecting information and following leads. Customs was slow but we had no problems so were soon on our way into the outskirts of the town, staying within the green zone. The CIA and U.S Embassy do a great job handling Intel and possibly threats to US expats in Iraq, including potential bombings, danger zones, and kidnapping. Plus, an American isn't going to live where the normal Iraqis live which are dangerous and unsafe places, it was still safer not to be sleeping in certain areas of the city, and we didn't know how long we would be here for. By the second night we had everything we needed and at last I felt that we could actually start on the goal of our mission. The place where Santos was meeting his contacts was a run down café so we both decided to go prepared for trouble. The guys we met couldn't have been more helpful; they gave us so much information I'm sure it would take weeks to follow everything through. They knew where any arms could be bought and how much for, but what was interesting was that there were some new players around.

We'd spent the week in Baghdad following up on leads, most of the deals going down were for small arms, local militia groups hoping to cause unrest, but no sign of any nuclear device or talk of any big deals going down.

"Ranger, Mo just called, he said that there's talk on the streets of an Egyptian guy whose crossed one of the buyers and ended up with his house in Cairo being bombed, you think maybe he was our middle man"

"Maybe, but why try to kill him?"

"Not sure, maybe he was doing a double cross, do we need to go to Cairo?"

"Do we have any contacts there?"

"Maybe, though the story is he wasn't there when it happened"

"Can we find out who he was?"

"Give me a bit of time and I'll see what I can do"

"If you can get the name of the place I'll call Tank to do a search for the owner"

I spent the next hour combing through news items on a possible explosion near Cairo and came up with only one small snippet, but it did give the name of the villa, Maria, and that it had been owned by an Egyptian, that in itself was why it was newsworthy, it was unusual for an Egyptian to be targeted.

"Tank"

"Ranger, everything okay?"

"Slow, I need some information on a house in Cairo that was bombed, named Maria, I'm after anything on the owner or if it was rented"

"On it"

"Any other news?"

"Well it seems Vinnie has left town, Harry got fed up with his behavior round town, so he's been relocated to Philadelphia"

"The bond business has gone?"

"Yeah, the girls all seem to have found other jobs"

"Steph?"

"Not heard from her, but word is she got herself another job"

"Doing what?"

"Don't know, she's keeping it to herself, seems Morelli thought that should make her want to take him back, so she hasn't told anyone what the job is"

"Check out her bank account and find out, you know how Steph can end up in the middle of chaos without realizing it"

"Will do, call me back tomorrow and I'll have more info for you"

That news didn't sit comfortably with me, did that mean she was moving on and wouldn't want to stay in touch? Our contact had always been through her work, or mine, and I felt a small chasm at the thought of loosing touch with her. Santos had just come in so I went to find out what he had learned.

"Strange one, that explosion in Cairo"

"I found a name for the property and have asked Tank to follow it up"

"How's Steph?"

Yeah, even Santos had a soft spot for her and liked to know that she was safe.

"Vinnie's closed up and left town, pressure from Harry"

"And?"

"Apparently the girls all have new jobs, but Tank says Steph is keeping hers quiet, she doesn't want the pressure from Morelli, or probably her mother as well"

"You ask Tank to find out? Of course you did, I'd miss not seeing her around. Why didn't she go to Tank for a job?"

'Probably because she'd think it would be a pity offer"

"Hell she's one of the best researchers I've ever seen"

"Yeah, but she doesn't have the confidence to believe that. So what did you find out?"

"That the owner is Egyptian but isn't often there, that he must have had a business deal that went wrong, talk is he has information that someone didn't want getting out"

"So not our buyer then?"

"No, but maybe he knows who the players are"

There were no more leads to be had here in the capitol, which wasn't surprising really, too many organizations trying to keep things peaceful and too many covert operations going on. In the morning we were heading south out into the smaller towns so after we had packed everything into the truck and were cleaning down the apartment so no evidence of who we were would be left, there was one last thing to do before we left.

"Report"

"Not good Ranger. The house came up as belonging to a corporation, but under that are layer upon layer of bogus information, I've asked Silvio to try and break through it. The other news isn't good either. I followed up on our Little Girl, man I don't know where this job of hers is, and nobody else does either. She spoke with the girls last week and called to see Mary Lou, but I don't think she knows much, just said that it was a safe job. The bank account is just plain weird. There's a payment from Harry, I presume some sort of severance pay, but there's another two payments that I can't get to the bottom of"

"How do you mean?"

"Well it comes up as a payment from a business account, but the business doesn't exist. Silvio reckons it's from an off shore account. Problem is no one's seen her this week, she hasn't been back to her apartment, and so I've brought the rat here for the time being. Ranger she just seems to have vanished. The neighbors said they'd seen a Bentley picking her up early in the mornings and dropping her off in the evening, but not this week"

"Shit, do you think she's in trouble?"

"Don't know, the apartment's clean, no damage, apparently Morelli got into a scuffle with the driver of the Bentley, so he's not happy either"

"Keep digging, I'll be out of contact for a while but when I can I'll get back to you"

Dam it, why did I have to be here when I should be looking for Steph.

"Everything okay back home Ranger?"

"Nothing on the house and Steph seems to have disappeared"

"Well maybe the new job had her moving?"

"Don't think so, her pay came from a strange account. I just have a feeling that she's maybe in trouble"

"Tank's good, he'll find her"

The problem was I didn't think he would and Steph had an uncanny way of finding trouble without even looking.

"We ready to head out?"

"Yeah my snitches said to try Karbala first, especially west of the town"

We were dressed to blend in, wearing what any local Iraqi would wear, even the truck I'd got looked beat up, though it was mechanically sound. It wouldn't take long to reach Karbala by road; we just had to be careful of ambushes, and hope that wherever we found to stay was secure. I think we'd be sleeping in the truck for a while. The city itself was quite big with a population of 700,000 so we wouldn't be staying in the center, we needed to head out to some of the villages west of there and scout out any of the local meeting areas. Both Santos and I spoke the language, and as long as Santos didn't draw attention to the color of his eyes, we could blend in.

There was certainly something amiss as we hit a small hamlet, probably the most westerly habitation in Iraq. But it wasn't the men that had our attention; it was some of the women. There was quite a gathering around where they got their water. It wasn't easy to get close to them, the women tend to keep themselves isolated, rarely talking to men let alone strangers, but we felt that what they were talking about was causing them to be more vivacious than you would normally expect. I managed to find a shady spot not far from where they were washing their clothes.

"It can't be true"

"It was, I've never seen anything like it"

"What happened next?"

"You should have seen the men, they were almost afraid, and certainly didn't want to go near after that"

"Did they live?"

"Of course, no one is going to bring about their own demise by making a stupid move"

"So where are they now?"

"Still there, but with a certain amount of freedom"

"What are they doing there?"

"I don't know, I worry for them"

"Why?"

"The little one, its no place for a little one"

"But you said they were safe"

"At the moment, but the little one is being protected at the moment"

"Why are they being held?"

"I don't know, but in the morning we have to have everything ready for a visitor"

"Maybe the visitor is important?"

"For all the effort he should be, poor Alya has scrubbed the place clean"

"Do you need any more help tomorrow Sona?"

"No, they wouldn't let you near anyhow, they don't know you. Only Alya and I are allowed anywhere near"

The conversation changed to the food they would be preparing so I quietly returned to the truck where Santos was waiting.

"Apparently a couple of the women are preparing for an important visitor to arrive at a camp out of town"

"Could be something, we haven't heard anything else worth following up on, what's the plan?"

"Somehow we need to work out where this camp is, it's probably well hidden and guarded"

"Why not just follow the women when they go there?"

"We'll need to go on foot, and once we work out where it is we are going to need to do a full surveillance to know where the guards are positioned"

"Let's get the packs ready and then find somewhere to wait for them, gonna be a long night"

It was a long night, but we'd found a derelict building to hide out in, away from the hamlet and the children playing, we were as comfortable as we were going to get. Santos took first watch allowing me to sleep, on jobs like this I had learnt to take whatever sleep I could. My sleep wasn't as restful as I would have liked and as I took over the watch while Santos got to sleep I mulled over the strange dreams I'd had. Whenever my dreams disturbed me it usually involved my Babe, I couldn't shake the feeling that she was in trouble, I just didn't know what or where, I wonder if Tank had learnt any more information.

The day hadn't quite started when I heard the chatter of the women; I woke Santos and held a finger to my lips. We quickly gathered our things and waited for them to be ahead of us, also being sure no one was following them at a distance. The terrain was quite open and we needed to hang back so they couldn't see us, also we didn't know at what stage guards would appear. In the distance was a large outcrop of rocks rising out of the desert and it was here that the women seemed to be headed for. They veered into the rocks and disappeared from view.

"Lets circle around the rocks and head up, that must an entrance, I don't see those two rock climbing with every thing they're carrying"

It took longer than we thought to go around and approach the rocks from a different direction before we started to climb, we needed the sun to be behind us, that way we'd be more difficult to see and when we used our binoculars the sun wouldn't reflect from them.

"Watch out for guards"

Yeah, Santos had a point but my gut was telling me differently.

"I don't think there'll be many, no one would think that this place could be found"

We climbed not seeing or hearing anything, then as we moved through a small cut out between the rocks there below us was the camp. There were several small tents, I presume for sleeping and two large canvas awnings, one covering crates and boxes and one for food preparation and eating.

"You think there are weapons in those boxes?"

"Could be, but we've no way to tell"

"Ranger, look to the south, there's a dust storm which looks like a tell for a vehicle"

Sure enough a truck was travelling quickly toward the rocks, we waited and watched as it came into the encampment. It stopped in front of a small stone built building and four men got out.

"Three look local, dressed in a tunic and trousers but the fourth is in khaki trousers and shirt, can you see his face?"

"No, it's covered up, it looks like he doesn't want anyone to see him"

The man disappeared into the building with the three as guards at the door. It was at least an hour later when one of the women was called over and spoken to, she didn't seem happy with what was said, and at one stage the guard seemed to shout at her and push her away.

"Keep your eye on the building, I'll follow the woman"

She walked toward one of the smaller tents and went inside, moments later she reappeared dragging a small child behind her, heading back toward the building. The child was a small girl, dressed in a tunic and had long brown hair. I was so intent on watching the child disappear through the door that I almost missed a women running after them, again dressed in a tunic and trousers with a band covering her hair and face. She was stopped at the door by the guards, but from her stance she wasn't intimidated by them, instead she faced them and pushed her way through the door, in fact the guards seemed hesitant in stopping her.
"What the hell was that about?"

"No idea, the women don't normally behave that way"

Minutes later the woman emerged with the child in her arms, I couldn't stop watching her, I was drawn to see what she did next. What she did do next took the air from my lungs; she had stopped in front of the tent and turned to look straight at me.

"If that woman wasn't dressed in a tunic with a band around her hair and face I would have sworn that she was Beautiful"

The thing is from the way I had reacted toward her looking at me, I would have said the same, but it couldn't be, she was half way round the world at home, wasn't she?

"Ranger, you've gone quiet"

"Sorry, but it felt like Steph to me, the way she knew where I was and looked straight at me"

"Nah, she's back at home, she couldn't be here"

The thing was that my gut and heart were saying it was her, but my head was saying she couldn't be, for the first time in my life I didn't know. We remained where we were, watching and waiting. All was quiet below, the three guards had stood in front of the tent where the woman and child were and the older women had left some food at the door to the building, but it was left untouched. The women left soon after, taking the remnants of the food with them, probably to feed their own families. As the sun began to sink the three guards moved to the truck and I faintly hear the sound of the engine, the man from inside came out and climbed into the passenger seat and the truck took off.

"We gonna see where it goes?"

"Yes, I think he may have something to do with this, I just can't figure out what he was doing here"

As we climbed back through the cut out we could vaguely see the truck as it travelled north, back toward the hamlet or probably Baghdad. We followed, not worried now about being seen, but the truck was too far ahead and too fast.

"What now?"

"Lets see if the two women are about, their conversation may give us a clue"

We found them by the outdoor taps washing pots and chatting away, for some reason I thought about how Steph hated the way women from the Burg would gossip, but it seemed it happened all over thee world.

"Oh, that poor child"

"What happened Alya?"

"That boss man made me go fetch her to him, she was terrified"

"Did he do anything to her?"

"Didn't get a chance, the older one came after us and was shouting at the guards and just pushed her way in"
"They didn't stop her?"

"No, she truly is a force of nature is that one, she came back out minutes later with the child in her arms"

"He won't hurt them will he?"

"I hope not"

For some reason I felt that the woman and child might be in danger, it was the way that the women had talked about them showing they were concerned, plus they'd seen the man we were after, so maybe we could help each other.

"Santos I think we need to get back to the camp"

"Why?"

"If that man was involved in weapons trading then that woman and child know what he looks and I don't think they are there because they want to be"

It was dark and slow going getting back to the camp, we'd just started to climb the rocks when we both ducked down at the sound of gunfire, automatic rifles, military, and there were a lot of rounds being fired with very few returning shots being heard.

"We need to get down there"

It was hard going moving down through the rocks, we didn't want to be seen and decided to enter it from the most southerly part. By the time we got down into the camp it was eerily quiet, the gunmen had left in their truck that they had parked at the outer edge to the rocks, obviously coming in on foot and surprising the men in the camp. We looked around at the carnage and death left behind. The tents were burnt to the floor, with bodies in one of them. I didn't want to look at the tent where the woman and child had been, but Santos obviously decided for me by going over and looking through the debris.

"Empty, no one was inside"

"Do you think the gunmen took them with them?"

"No"

I turned drawing my gun at the young man who had shouted out at us. He was bleeding from gunshot wounds to his stomach and shoulder, and to be honest he looked like he wouldn't last long. Seeing that he was no threat I went over to him as he lay on the floor on his side.

"They weren't there, the men who attacked us were angry when they realized the tent was empty, they were asking each other what they were going to tell their boss if he knew they were gone"

"Who were the woman and child?"

"I don't know, we were to told to get them and bring them here, we captured them from a group across the border, then brought them here. I don't know what he wanted with them, or why he would want to do that"

"What's your name?"
"Sami, I tried to help them as best I could. The other men were frightened of the older one"

"Why?"

"Yazen thought he could have her, but he ended up dead, so the rest decided she was mystical"

"I'm sorry Sami"

He was fading fast, his breathing was labored and he had blood bubbling from his mouth, a sure indication of lung damage, there was nothing I could do. As he lost consciousness I repeated the words he would need to hear.

"Laa ilaaha ill-Allaah. Peace and blessings of Allah be upon you"

I stood up and looked around trying to figure out what the hell was going on. What was so important about the women? And who were they?

"Santos, anything in the crates"

"Old machine guns, very little ammunition, some old IEDs, no new tech or evidence of what we're after"

"Let's get out of here"

"Where did the woman and kid go?"

"He didn't know, maybe they made a run for it, I just don't know"

By daylight we'd returned to the truck at the hamlet, it was just coming up to dawn and families were stirring.

"We need to move out of here before people wake up and come outside, let's head back to Baghdad and see if we can pick up a trail, maybe he headed for the airport, in fact it might be a good idea to get the list of passengers who came in yesterday and compare it to those who left today"

"What about the woman and child?"

"I wouldn't know where to start looking, get the truck packed up, I'll be back in a minute"

He gave me a strange look but started to do as I had asked. I went to the area I knew Alya lived in and waited by the water taps for her to appear. Sure enough she came to the taps to collect water in the jugs she was carrying. I approached from in front, holding my hands up, trying to say I wasn't a threat.

"I need to find the woman and child"

She was obviously very wary of me; I doubt she'd tell me anything even if she knew something.

"I know she was at the camp yesterday and that they may be in danger, I want to help them"

"She's at the camp out side town"
"No Alya, everyone is dead, but they're missing"

Alya sat down hard, obviously surprised at what I'd said to her. I wrote the number for the cell phone I carried here in Iraq onto the back of a piece of paper and gave it to her.

"Please Alya, if you hear anything about them, call me, I need to find them"

"I will, but bad man came yesterday, did he do it?"

"I don't know"

I left Alya nursing the number to her chest, tears in her eyes, I didn't mean to upset her, but if that was what it took then I'd do it again. Santos was waiting in the truck, I ignored his questioning look, he'd probably think I was mad asking the old woman for information, but Alya had confirmed that she knew of whom I was talking about. Now all I could do was wait and keep looking. We made our way slowly back to Baghdad stopping off at any hamlets, looking for that truck or any of the three men that had been with him. It was evening by the time we returned to the apartment we'd started in. I felt despondent, yes we'd probably seen a key person, but we were no nearer identifying him, the seller or finding the nuclear device. Going over everything we had, and the photographs taken we each went our own way to our rooms. I kept thinking of where the woman and child were, were they taken or did they run, were they hurt? There was nothing I could do about it so focused on what we would need to do. In the morning we needed to access the passenger lists for flights in and out of Baghdad.