Chapter 10

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It seemed like a lifetime ago that Stephanie had been staring at the information she'd found on Ranger's computer. A lifetime ago when she had discovered the plans that would take Ranger away from her. A lifetime since she realized that she may have waited too long. DJ Miller's announcement had set everything in motion, throwing Stephanie's life into turmoil. It had been like watching a bad movie in slow motion. Stephanie read and re-read the messages from General Kinkaid. Their meaning sinking deeper and deeper into her heart. Miller's words confirmed what she had read, and her heart dropped into her stomach. In disgust, she turned off his computer and sat back, stunned. From the little she could find out, about the operation that was about to start, Stephanie had plenty of fuel for her imagination. Her thoughts tortured her by taking her mind through all of the worst case scenarios she could think of, dragging her down further and further into despair. Frozen with fear, she remained sitting there in agony until Ranger came back to the office. She remembered standing and rushing to him. Her arms circled him desperately as he held her close, and she did not want to let him go. He seemed to feel the same, holding her tight while they talked. They did not have much time. A whirlwind of activity swirled around them as the preparations to leave were under way. Still, Ranger did not let her go. Not until the last possible minute.

They were gone now, and Stephanie felt empty inside. She stood in the garage, immobilized with the numbness that had set in. She had watched the caravan of black trucks as it left, taking Ranger and the team away to the airfield to catch their plane. Unwilling to let her tears be seen while he was still here, Stephanie had put on a brave face for Ranger. Now those tears could not be stopped, they streamed down her face, soaking her shirt. Ella hovered, keeping close in case Stephanie needed her, and it was a long time before she guided her back into the building.

AARON grasped his duffle bag and followed the team up the stairs and past the cockpit. Trying not to stare, he looked around the unexpected luxury, and he contemplated just how he came to be on this private plane. He felt lucky to be on the team, but he would have it no other way. The moment Ranger's meeting had ended, earlier, he had wasted no time. Hector was not happy about Aaron's decision, but he supported him, going with him to help him make his case. It was not usual for the men to volunteer for the special op teams. Normally they took the assignments they were given and followed them. So Tank was surprised when Aaron asked to go with them. Insisted, really. He had no intention of taking no for an answer. It had, indeed, been a no that Tank had given him at first. But Aaron did not accept it. Now a small smile turned up the corners of his mouth. It had been a fight to get this position, and it had been DJ Miller herself who had given him the clearance he needed in the end. She could use some good tech support, she said. It was exactly what he had wanted to hear, and Aaron intended to be so much more than that to her before this was all over. Taking a seat toward the back of the plane, he settled into the comfortable leather chair and leaned his head back. Everyone was supposed to take the first few hours of the flight to get some rest before they were to be briefed on the mission. He may have been new at RangeMan, and this may have been the first mission he had been on, but even Aaron knew that this procedure was all backwards. Rushing into a situation without complete details was not done. Hector had been teaching Aaron how to design and maintain programs that the teams used to gather their intel from every source they could find. It was what Aaron was good at, what he loved to do. All things considered, he was usually content to be the man behind the scenes making sure that the information could be found. So he could see, more than anyone, just how backwards his own actions had been as well. Knowing what you were getting yourself into should always be the first step, but he had gone and inserted himself into this assignment without knowing a thing about it. There was nothing else he could do. Watching her on the small screen, he had seen DJ's face, and like the first time he had laid his eyes on her, he knew he had to be near her. He couldn't deny what he felt, even if it made no sense at all. He had yet to even personally meet her, but he could not let her go on this operation alone. While he had been sitting there, watching her from Hectors office, Aaron had made some startling revelations. Most important being the realization that DJ needed him. He could see in her eyes that she was driven by a force that he did not understand, that maybe she didn't even acknowledge, but it was there and he was afraid of what it could do to her. Her dedication to this cause was admirable, but there was something more. Aaron could not have known about her injuries, ore her need for revenge. He simply knew she could use someone watching her back. Now, in the dim lights of the plane, he nodded his head slightly, as if confirming his determination to watch over her. Seated in the front, DJ was sitting in a chair that was facing him, and Aaron kept his gaze on her. She needed someone, and he wanted it to be him. There was absolutely no way he was not going to be here, to help the team, to help DJ Miller.

NOW that they were in the air, and the team had settled in, Ranger took out his cell phone and called the number he had been given. It turned out to be a private line for the General, instead of his office number, and Ranger was only mildly surprised. He knew that there had to be a good reason for the clandestine messages and strange phone conversations over the past twelve hours. He had not been given the whole picture yet, but now that he had agreed to help out, he intended to be filled in on all the details that had been missing.

"Talk to me," he simply said, and waited for Kinkaid's explanation.

In the middle of a huge park in Washington DC, General Kinkaid was standing at the edge of a pond, eyeing the surrounding area suspiciously. His phone was supposed to be secure, and he trusted that it was. But that did not keep him from using every precaution that he knew of to insure secrecy in this conversation with Ranger. He maintained his close proximity to the pond, he kept his hand covering his mouth, he never stopped his constant pacing. He did everything that he had ever heard of to keep from having his call intercepted. The man was paranoid and Ranger had to assure him, several times, that he was using his own encryption techniques as well. Finally, the general was satisfied and started talking. Ranger was concerned to learn that he was the only person that Kinkaid trusted right now. There was a leak in his organization, and he was trying to find out who it was. The general was convinced that the only way he could find the leak was to spread the intel he was using between everyone under his command. Some of it would be real, some would not. But no one person, outside of Ranger and his team, would be privy to all of the information. This way he could follow the trails of betrayal right back to who he gave the specific details to. Of course, he could have found his leak without Ranger's help. It was the timing of this mission that complicated everything.

Ranger knew that Smith had been in contact with Turner in Nicosia. The men had crossed paths several times since Turner retired. When the terrorist group invaded his property, Smith worked with Turner to gather specific details about their objectives and he knew it was the perfect opportunity to eliminate them before they could completely disrupt the oil industry in the region. Unfortunately, Kinkaid could not wait for his experiment to be complete before he addressed this threat. Smith did as much as he could, but his position with the governments in the area, made him a target. Personally meeting with key civilian leaders would only put them all at risk, and that was quite simply unacceptable. They needed to continue to work with these citizen groups, exposing them would not be good for anyone. Especially now that death threats against Smith were coming in regularly. Keeping him at RangeMan was the best thing for Smith, and pulling Ranger in was the general's only alternative. It had been Ranger's team that had developed relationships with Beyza, and her people, who said that they would be willing to cooperate again, but only with the men that they trusted.

Listening carefully, Ranger noted all of the information that he was finally getting from the general. He had turned up the volume of his phone, and angling it away from his ear allowed Tank to also hear the conversation. Every so often, both Tank and Ranger would scowl, or they would nod their heads in agreement. The plans, that had been made for this mission, were in motion, and Ranger could see that their window of opportunity was very small. It was no wonder that Miller was in such a hurry. Ranger could see that she knew more of the details than anyone else. A definite indication that Kinkaid wanted her involved. The fact that the general seemed to trust her, especially in light of his current personnel problems, gave Ranger confidence to work with her. Her experience, and her knowledge of the region was invaluable to the team. He just wished that he could quiet the tiny voice of caution in the back of his mind. She had had her accident there. What was going to happen to DJ Miller when she was back in the same place, among the same people that had caused her so much pain?