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Chapter 4

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From the front, the red brick building on Haywood Street looked like a perfect square, as tall as it was wide. Other than that, there was nothing particularly special about it. Since it was surrounded by equally non descript buildings, it did not draw much attention. That was the way the owners of RangeMan Inc wanted it. The double doors of the street level entry, as well as the wide window panels that flanked it, were all tinted bullet proof glass. Only a small brass plate identified it as the location of RangeMan Inc. Most people who came to these doors came deliberately, and usually by invitation.

None of the guys who worked in this here used the front entrance. They came in through the parking garage at the back of the building. The entry did not see that much traffic, but that is not to imply that it was not always heavily guarded. It was, twenty-four hours a day. The rest of the building was quiet at six o'clock that morning, when Junior came to relieve Benny from the front desk duty. A quick nod of acknowledgement was all the men exchanged, as the switch took place. Junior watched the elevator doors close, he shrugged, he was alone now for the next couple of hours. He might as well get it started. Thank goodness Tank only scheduled short two hour shifts at this station, it was the most boring job at RangeMan. There were only two things to do here, monitor the front of the building, and deal with anyone who came through the front door. Junior checked the schedule on the desk, no clients were scheduled to come in on his shift. Circling the tall reception desk, he did a perimeter check. All quiet, nothing to report. As usual. Junior adjusted the strap of his shoulder holster and settled in behind the reception desk. He let out an inaudible sigh, nothing he could do about another dull stint up here.

He turned his attention to the bank of monitors that lined the inside of the desk. Images on the four small screens in front of him showed the front face of the entrance, the two edges of this side of the building and the roofline seven stories above the entry doors. Nothing was happening on any of the screens. No surprise there, he thought, and he didn't expect that anything would while he was here. He spent the next hour playing with the dials, tightening the images on each monitor. Anything to keep busy. Soft light was beginning to fill the sky when Junior sat back and was about to put his feet up on the desk. Suddenly, his gut clenched. Instinct kicked in, his hands were a blur, tapping the keyboard and flipping switches. Something was wrong. The images he was seeing on the roof monitors couldn't be right. Where were the birds?

In the dim light of his impromptu work station, Hector was pacing, like a small caged animal. Something that Aaron had said earlier kept circling around inside his brain. Though Hector had dismissed it as impossible, he still let himself worry over it. No one could get into this building without their knowledge, it just could not happen. Not with their high level of security and extensive monitoring. No se puede. The words echoed in his mind. They couldn't. There were cameras looking at every inch of this building, and men monitoring those views at all times. How could someone get onsite to tamper with his system? They couldn't, it was his answer to every scenario that he played through in his head.

The phone in his pocket buzzed. Hector pulled it out, looking at the screen. Suddenly Hector stopped in his tracks and looked at Aaron. Without a word, he turned and raced to the stairwell. Aaron got up and followed him, not at all sure what was going on, but he wanted to see what Hector was doing. They ran up the two flights of stairs to the top. A key card was required to open the door that led to the roof. Hector grabbed the retractable badge reel at his waist and swiped the card over the small black panel and waited a split second for the click of the lock. He pushed the door open and stepped out. From the door, he could see the front edge of the building. Hector moved forward, his eyes constantly scanning, looking for anything that would indicate that someone had been here. With Aaron right behind him, he walked quickly to the front corner of the building. He leaned over and let loose a stream of Spanish words. Aaron had never heard his mentor speak like that before and he stood there staring at Hector.

With a motion of his hand, Hector directed Aaron's attention to the ledge below the roof-line. Aaron looked over the edge with curiosity. He saw a series of small dome shaped structures made of mud and twigs. None of them were any larger than a cantaloupe, and all but the one on the end closest to the corner of the building, were still intact. He noticed that that one had been built too close to a metal panel box. Opening the door of that box had smashed in the side of the round nest. It took a moment for Aaron to understand what he was seeing. The wires had been tampered with, he knew that that was enough to make Hector upset, but he got the distinct impression that Hector's reaction, just now, had been about much more than that. He stood back and looked at Hector. Hector nodded. Yes, someone had been here, and it hadn't been any of the RangeMen.

Hector took up his pacing again. He had to think. The wires and connections inside of that box had been checked only a week ago. Hector had taken care of the scheduled maintenance personally. But even if he hadn't, he knew that everyone here would have taken great care to leave the nest undisturbed. When the birds had shown up a couple of years ago, no one had had the heart to kick them out. Instead, the tiny brown house sparrows had become the closest thing to a pet that some of these men had ever had. Aaron could only stare at Hector, he had no idea that there had been a family of birds living here under the protective eye of his co-workers. There was no way, since he was no expert on birds, that he could know that with having one of their nests compromised the birds were in hiding. He certainly would never have guessed that so many of the RangeMen would have been saddened by their disappearance. What he did know, instinctively, was that this situation was far more upsetting than he could imagine. Wisely, he decided not to say anything about it.

Hector stopped and stared at the box again. Anger rose in his gut, he was not sure what pissed him off the most, the fact that his systems had been touched, or that someone had ruthlessly destroyed the home of the little birds. He swallowed hard and bent over the edge again. Carefully examining the wires, Hector could see that there had been a small wiretapping device installed to the internet cables. While it still made him mad, Hector knew that whoever did this never got the information that they may have been after. He imagined that it didn't take long for them to see that it didn't work. They probably would have tested its effectiveness as soon as it was installed.

"This was our problem all along," Hector said. "It didn't do what they wanted it to, but leaving it on the cable affected the internet reception." He was shaking his head in disgust. In his mind he was putting together a timeline. The problems had started yesterday afternoon. Someone had been on the roof undetected, around 0100. It was getting him more and more upset to think about it.

Whoever had done this, they were not professionals. They may have had enough smarts to get themselves onto the roof, but that was where their expertise seemed to run out. The whole thing was an amateurish move on their part, finding that the device didn't work, they should have immediately removed it. Leaving it here only gave RangeMan some clues to who they were. To that end, Hector carefully removed it and placed it on Aaron's flat palm. Instinctively Aaron kept still, not touching it, and not moving it until Hector was ready to go, and he gave it back to him.

"How did they get it here?" Aaron asked as they made their way back down the stairs. He was as concerned as Hector was that anyone could have done this. He did not get an answer, so he asked another question.

"Who texted you? You left right after getting a message, did it have anything to do with that box up there?"

They were at the door to the fifth floor when Hector stopped and turned to face Aaron. He grabbed his phone and pulled up the message. He then handed it to Aaron, who read it in confusion.

The birds are gone.

That was all it said. Aaron gave the phone back to Hector with a puzzled look.

"Junior is monitoring the front of the building right now," Hector explained. "He can see the edge where the birds fly in and out of their nests."

Without another word, he pushed the door open and headed down the hall toward Ranger's office. There was some more information that he needed to get to Ranger before his meeting today. And reporting on the birds felt like the right thing to do too. He hoped that someone could do something to bring the birds back.

A million things were racing through Stephanie's mind. Keeping stride with Rodriguez's long gait, she tried to calm the butterflies that were getting more and more active in her stomach. All of her concentration was on the moment that she would see Ranger again. How she would feel when she looked into his eyes, breathed in his scent, touched him. She was so distracted that when Rodriguez abruptly stopped a few yards from Ranger's office door, she nearly ran into him. Stopping just in time, she looked up to see the serious look on his face.

"Ranger is still talking to the General," he whispered. Now that he had said that, Stephanie realized that she could hear the deep, low growl of General Kinkaid. She had only met the man once before, but it was an experience that she would never forget. The man was huge, almost as big as Tank, though he was no longer fit and toned like he used to be. But he still demanded respect, and gave off the attitude that he would take it if it wasn't offered. Stephanie remembered the moment that she had walked in the room to see him standing there. She will admit to being scared spit-less at the way he was yelling at everyone. A smile bloomed on her lips as she also remembered the way Ranger had taken her hand in his and pulled her close that day. Warm feelings from that moment enveloped her again now as she stood perfectly still in the hall. Pleasant shivers played up her back, settling on her neck where the familiar buzz remained. It never failed to amaze her at the connection that she always felt when Ranger was near.

They were not close enough to have been seen, but they were just within earshot to hear the conversation on the speakerphone. It was not as if they had tried to eavesdrop, but they could not help it. The generals voice was not nearly as fierce as she had remembered it, but it was still plenty loud, and if she had not heard what he said herself, she would never have believed it.

Rodriguez was again in his military stance, as if he were in the same room as the general. His head was lowered and eyes were closed. Stephanie got the impression that he wanted to give Ranger and Kinkaid some privacy, but was not willing to go far, since they really did have some urgent information to share. She remained very still, and though privacy was not her objective, she tuned out the general's voice. She was much happier when her mind was filled with thoughts of Ranger.

It was then that Hector and Aaron turned the corner and saw Stephanie and Rodriguez. They slowed their pace as they approached, but it was not until Hector heard Kinkaid's voice that he understood why Stephanie and Rodriguez were just standing motionless in the hallway. He also knew that he was going to have to take a number to talk to Ranger. All he could do was wait. He didn't like it, but there was nothing else to be done.

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