Chapter 10

Lester's POV

I was carrying Alex to Bobby's medic office. Her skin was on fire. She looked up at me completely lost and confused "Why are you all acting like this?" she asked.

She has no idea. I felt fear stab me in the chest "Angel, you were speaking in Russian" I explained.

Her head lay against my chest as I was carrying her and rolled back as she lost consciousness.

I gently laid her down on the padded table. Bobby immediately started an IV and stuck a thermometer in her ear. "104" Bobby said looking at the thermometer. He did a quick exam and asked me "Has Alex been complaining about anything?"

I shook my head staring at Alex. She was pale and shaking she started mumbling in Russian. I looked at Bobby "She could be hallucinating or having a fever dream" he explained.

"What's wrong with her?" I asked. I'm sure I looked as terrified as I felt.

Bobby clapped me on the back and said "Relax man, it looks like James Bond here missed her annual flu shot."

"So Alex, just has the flu?" I asked incredulously.

"Looks like it. Listen she will be fine if we can keep her fever down. I'm giving her meds and we need to keep her hydrated. If her fever gets worse or continues she could end up having a seizure. She is very ill, but this is manageable" Bobby explained.

Alex moaned and tried to weakly fight against me as I picked her up to move her to my apartment. Bobby packed up supplies and followed me. She cried out in a slew of Russian when I finally laid her gently in bed.

Her body was tense she muttered in Russian again she thrashed. I went to lean over to her and she took a swing. She struck me hard on the side of the face and tired to strike me again but I caught her arm.

Bobby quickly came over and shot something into the IV that he had attached to her. "Fuck, she's going to be dangerous. I think she may be hallucinating. I just gave her a sedative and the medicine I gave her should help bring the fever down. I'm going to stay in your second bedroom. If anything changes or those monitors go off get me immediately" Bobby said.

I nodded. "Les" Alex mumbled and then let out more Russian. Her body was still tense. I looked at Bobby who gave me a nod before leaving to go get some things from his place to set up in my spare bedroom. "Bring Elaina back with you" I called after him.

That's for you Alex.

I sat on the edge of the bed next to her. Her body was rigid. I wish I could comfort her. I thought about what comforts me and I reached over into the night stand drawer and pulled out the very warn copy of "Pillars of the Earth" that Alex had left me all those years ago. It still had her note tucked in it.

I've almost thrown the book and the note away a million times but could never bring myself to do it. I was so glad I had it now. I got into bed next to her and gently laid her head in my lap so I could stroke her hair.

I opened the book and began reading to her softly. I gradually felt her body relax. It could have been from the drugs or her fever coming down but I like to think it's because she can hear me and knows what I'm reading to her. It was her favorite. Actually it was Audra's. I'm not sure if Alex had an emotional attachment to this book the way Audra did. I knew I had an emotional attachment to this book.

I head Bobby return. He opened the door up and I saw Elaina standing next to him looking concerned dressed in her pajamas "How is she?" she asked me.

"She's calming down" I said.

"That's good, she needs to rest. Do you want me to sit with her for awhile?" Bobby asked me.

"No, I'm going offline, I want to stay with her" I said.

"Laina, it's not even six, why don't you lie down in Les's spare room" Bobby said kissing Elaina's forehead. Elaina gave a nod and slowly walked out of the room.

Bobby came over and took Alex's temperature again "Her fever is coming down. The best course of action with her is to keep her sedated until her body if able to bring her fever down naturally. I will continue administering meds until she is able to do it herself. If she gets any worse we may have to consider sending her to a hospital but that would also us obligate us to call the agency. She can't be hallucinating in Russian around anyone" he said.

I nodded my agreement.

"Let's just keep hydrating her. When that bag runs out" he said gesturing to the IV "get me and we'll hang another one" Bobby said.

I nodded again. I know Alex wasn't exactly conscious right now but I really just wanted to be alone with her. Bobby being my best friend could sense it and left the room.

I picked back up the book and continued to read. Alex rolled over at some point and looked up at me "I'm supposed to be reading to you soldier. You're on too many pain meds" she mumbled. I stroked her hair and told her how beautiful she was in Spanish. She rolled her head back down slowly and fell asleep. I picked up the book again and continued to read to her. I eventually fell asleep sitting up with Alex's head still in my lap.

I woke up to the sound of Alex's electronic IV beeping. Her bag was empty. Elaina opened the door and took a look at the bag and gave me a nod. Bobby came in eyes blurry from sleep and changed the bag of fluids and then took Alex's blood pressure and temperature.

"She's looking better. Now go into the kitchen and eat something" Bobby said giving me a long look.

"I don't want to leave her" I explained.

"I'm here and you're just going into the next room. You're not going to do Alex any favors if you stay by her side the next two weeks and you end up sick" he said giving me his medic look.

I walked into my kitchen and smelled coffee. Elaina gestured for me to have a seat at the island. I slowly sat down and she placed a plate with a whole grain everything bagel and a pile of fruit on it in front of me. She poured me coffee and orange juice. "You didn't have to do all this" I said.

"It's no trouble. It doesn't look like you and Alex have been staying here so I figured the least I could do is go pick some stuff up for you guys. Just let me know if she wakes up and is hungry. Ella is making soup and Bobby had me pick up crackers and ginger ale for her" Elaina said evenly.

Elaina wasn't warm. It just wasn't her demeanor. Steph comes off as a warm. Alex comes off as playful. Elaina comes off as cold. But it's a little known secret that she is also kind, caring, giving, loving, intelligent and makes my best friend the happiest he's ever been.

I got up from my chair and walked around to where she was standing and pulled her into my arms. I felt her jump in surprise as I crushed the small woman to my chest and kissed her hair "Thumbelina, I can't thank you enough. You're one in a million" I said as I let her go.

I broke into a huge grin when I saw her blush and get flustered "It's not a problem. I didn't really do anything" she said shifting her weight uncomfortably from foot to foot. She looked cute. I grabbed her forehead, kissed it and tried to pull her in for another hug.

She started giggling "Alright, alright! I get, it you appreciate it. That's enough for now" she said smiling at me as she pushed me off gently. She was really beautiful when she smiled.

I finished eating then jumped into the shower. I walked back into my room to sit with Alex and saw Elaina sitting next to Alex. "Bobby's eating" she explained. "Good choice" she smiled and gestured to "Pillars of the Earth" that was still lying on the bed.

She got up and left Alex and I. I picked back up the book and stroked her hair. She started mumbling in Russian again and tensed. I started reading out loud and I felt her relax against me.

XXXXXXXX

A few hours later Bobby came back in and checked her temperature and told me it was back up and that was to be expected. He gave her some meds and another shot of sedative as he noticed she was beginning to thrash more and her blood pressure was rising.

Elaina knocked on the door and opened it slowly "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Ranger called down, you two are needed in the conference room now. I'll stay with her and call up if there is any change" she said.

I didn't like leaving Alex but Bobby and I both knew this was probably about the distraction job last night and it was likely that we were finally going to get some answers about why Alex colluded with the CIA without RangeMan knowledge.

Elaina pulled up a chair and took out her lap top and began doing work. I hesitated. "Go. I've got this" she said glancing up at me. I finally nodded and Bobby and I left to go to the conference room.

We walked into the conference room and Tank and Ranger were already there. We took our seats and the tall Indian man from the other night was at the front of the table with a man who resembled a walking ken doll.

He was tall and lean with sandy hair and piercing blue eyes. This guy must pick up women by simply walking into a room. He had that look about him not to mention the fucking attitude about him.

"Gentleman, thank you for joining us" the Indian man began. "I'm Omega and this is my associate Dante" he said introducing ken doll.

I felt myself stiffen and rage began boiling inside of me. I know she doesn't love him but to know that this man in front of me kissed Alex's lips, held her in his arms and made love to her made me want to draw my weapon and blow his fucking head off.

Ranger nodded "This is Bobby and Lester our other partners" Ranger said introducing Bobby and me.

Dante's eyes quickly flicked toward me. Maybe Alex mentioned me? That boosted my ego. It was nothing more than an eye flick so it could be nothing but it felt significant.

I kept my blank face firmly in place. "Dante and Ace have worked together before and he has some insight into a previous connected mission" Omega explained.

Dante slid us all files. Inside was picture of Victor Talov "Victor Talov, Russian business tycoon, mob connected, drug and arms smuggler, and thanks to Ace, we discovered that he was into human trafficking as well" more pictures contained photos of Alex and Talov out together. She was thinner and more fragile looking. Her hair was black and cut shorter but the piercing blue eyes were the same and the lips…well it was her.

I saw the Ranger and Tank studying the photo of Alex. "If you continue to pages 3-15, you will see just some of the victims of the women who were to be sold as sex slaves that were rescued by Ace and our crew."

I can't describe how horrific these photos were. Young women and little girls, beaten and drugged…and this was before they were sold. I can't imagine how many were lost. I felt sick and judging by the looks on the other guys faces they felt the same way.

"Ace's mission was to seduce Talov become his girlfriend and stay close to him to gather intel. She achieved her objective. Unfortunately Talov isn't exactly a gentleman. He's known to knock around his women and he prefers rough sex. Ace was required to maintain her cover for over a year which meant she had to take his abuse. If you turn to pages 16-18 we have photos from Ace's time with Talov" Dante continued.

I flipped turned the page and there were pictures of Alex out with Talov. There was a close up of her neck which showed bruises that were clearly from finger tips. Talov liked to choke. I felt my rage slowly taking over as I looked at the other pictures. They were all of Talov and Alex and they all had close ups of her arms, face, legs which were marked with welts and bruises.

I took several slow breaths to bring myself together. Talov was already dead and Alex killed him, she got her revenge. I still wanted to kill someone.

"Ace acted like a professional and continued to collect intel until we had enough to shut down Talov's network. She was ordered to take Talov out. Please turn to page 19" Omega said.

We turned the page and there was a picture of Talov. He was bloody and clearly had some broken bones. He also had a hole in his forehead. This was Alex's revenge and she made sure not to rush from the looks of it.

"Ace was then flown to Langley debriefed and given an extensive psychological evaluation. She was also treated for various injuries, turn to pages 20-25" Dante said evenly.

Ranger let out a breath, Tank started rubbing his head and Bobby's eyes widened. The pictures were appalling. It was pictures of Alex's back, torso, chest, arms and legs. She was covered with welts, bite marks and bruises. Her face was mostly untouched besides a small bruise under her left eye.

I felt my hands start shaking with rage. I knew Bobby was looking at me. I let out a breath and made myself concentrate on the fact that Alex was safe now in my apartment, in my bed and I would keep it that way.

"Ace was sent to Bali for several weeks of R&R before continuing work. She then continued to be a valuable asset to our agency. Unfortunately, several of her aliases were compromised and she had to be declassified for her own safety and for the integrity of our long term missions" Omega added.

"As you can imagine the details of that mission in Russia have been burned into Ace's brain. When she started doing research on Smirkov she realized that Talov and Smirkov were the same age, from the same city, with the same socioeconomic background, they attended school together and had similar mafia ties. She also started looking into Smirkov's recent activities and realized that Smirkov was visiting all the countries that Talov's previous human trafficking network was connected to. That's when she called the agency, she said she'd be damned if everything that she went through was all for nothing because this asshole was planning to 'start up Talov's old business'" Dante explained.

"We gave her direct orders not to talk to any of you about it until we could confirm the intel and we also decided that we be in on your distraction job. We needed Smirkov to be able to confirm Ace's suspicions that the network is being set up again. Unfortunately, Ace is right. The network is being set up again. We have Smirkov which will slow things down some but we are looking to completely dismantle this thing and with RangeMan's help and the information we can get from Smirkov we believe we can end it before it even begins" Omega said.

"I know that you all feel like Ace betrayed you, but I hope you can understand now why she felt the need to do so and also why she felt the need to be rough with Smirkov" Dante said.

Ranger gave a nod "We have a lot to discuss" he said.

"Then we will be in touch" Omega said as he gathered all the packets.

"Lester? May I speak with you outside a moment?" asked Dante.

I really had nothing to say to him but nodded and followed anyways. "Lester… Les am I correct?" Dante said looking at me carefully.

I gave him a small nod.

"I was with Ace in Bali for those weeks while she was recovering from the Talov mission. She would have dreams, well nightmares, and she would cry out in Russian. Mostly she would be begging Talov to stop. Occasionally, she would call out for Les to save her. I finally asked her and she told me about a man she met in Iraq and that was her good memory which she held on to during that mission. Its years later and now she's working, and from my intel, living with you. I take it you're the same Les?" he asked.

I nodded. The thought of Alex crying out for me to save her was heart breaking. Seeing those pictures and knowing everything that she went through was killing me. All I wanted was to take her in my arms and never let her go. I would do anything to keep her safe.

"Be careful with her. Even though she's out, we will always be where her loyalty lies. She clearly also has whatever kind of relationship she had with you built up in her head, she'll realize that soon. I've been with her for ten years" Dante stated.

"Just because you were someone's fuck buddy on and off for a decade doesn't mean that there was ever love between you" I said coldly.

"That may be true in your world, but in ours it practically means we're married" Dante responded.

"She's not in your world now. She's in mine and my name will be the only she ever calls out for" I had my blank face on and was really trying not to hit this guy. He would probably break my arm. "Are we done here?" I asked.

"Ranger informed us that she is ill with a high fever and has been speaking in Russian. If she starts to become violent and you can't handle her anymore, just call this number and our doctors will come and take care of her" Dante said as he handed me a blank card with a phone number printed on it.

Cloak and dagger motherfucking drama queens.

I just nodded and took the card and placed it in my pocket. I turned and headed back to four to go be with Alex.