Disclaimer: Not mine.

A/N: A shorter chapter, I know, and quick warning; it's a cliffie! I needed to make this one shorter, but believe me, it doesn't lack action. Let a bit of the plot unravel!

Enjoy, and please review!

###

Ranger POV

I stared him down, watching with a sick satisfaction as the colour drained from his (ridiculous) face.

"How do you know that, Manoso?" he growled again, every muscle tensed. I sent him a measured, sadistic grin, keeping myself poised in case he decided to attack.

"I have connections," I countered smoothly. "Your turn to answer."

"I don't have to answer to you, Manoso," he growled. I shrugged, slamming down my blank mask.

"No, you're right. You don't. But you do have to answer to Steph, as to why you've been lying to her for five years." I sneered at him. "You may think you know my babe very well, but you obviously don't if you think she's going to be okay with that. Steph's big on trust."

"I never lied to her," he shot back, nostrils flaring.

"You never bothered to tell her about Megan Sanders either," I retorted. "She's spent five years blaming herself for her friend's death, when you found out two weeks later that Megan was trying to investigate De la Fuente for her CSI class, and got 3 bullets to show for it. De la Fuente never knew who the Aquila was, and you knew he didn't, yet you let her continue to believe in the inane idea that she was to blame for that girl's death." I paused my even voice to gauge his reaction; if his pursed lips and fierce glare was anything to go by, he was going on the defensive. Fine by me. "She spent five years like that, in that kind of pain, and you could've stopped it but you didn't. I want to know why."

"I did it for…"

"Be wise and don't tell her you did it 'for her own good'," I interrupted flatly.

"I did it so she would be safe," Ramirez scowled, sparks flying from his eyes. "She was okay."

"You didn't give her a choice," I growled. "It was her right to know, and you took that right away from her."

"I did what I thought was best."

"And you thought a motion to terminate Project Aquila was what was best for her?" I shot back. "Neither of us are amateurs at this game, Ramirez, we both know that those words mean an instant mercenary hit if approved." I knew I was showing my hand, but damn if I could stop now. "I think you meant for all of this to happen, Ramirez. I think you're the mole."

He stared at me a second, before he reacted.

"You son of a…" he reached behind himself with a growl.

At the same time, we had our guns out, levelled at each other, neither breaking eye contact.

"That's enough."

###

Lester POV

"Les."

The low, murmured utterance throbbed with an urgency belied by Beautiful's calm posterior. I moved over to where she stood, worry over her antsy voice sharpening my instincts.

"What's up Beautiful?" I asked, running a palm lightly down her hand.

"Where's Ranger and Benny?" she asked with a frown. "Something's wrong."

"What? Is it something to do with De la Fuente?" I asked, scanning the room as I took her wrist gently in my hand.

"No," Steph shook her head, a flash of irritation firing up her sapphire eyes. "It's something to do with them being asses."

"Spidey senses?" I asked, even as I pulled her towards the door Ranger had left out of. She nodded spastically, scowling. Dios, my cousin was in for a thunderstorm of a night tonight.

We got outside in time to see Ramirez and Ranger going at it, a la Mexican stand-off.

"That's enough," Steph snapped, her voice cutting like a hot knife through butter. She looked imposing, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't a tiny bit intimidated just then.

Ranger and Ramirez immediately took a step back, lowering their weapons infinitesimally before each turning to face her.

"Now," she narrowed her eyes at them. "I thought I made it expressly clear that whatever macho bull you two have got going on would have to wait? Am I misunderstanding, or are we on a case right now?" She raked her shrewd gaze over each of them slowly and if I didn't know any better, I would say she was reading their minds.

Although if I had said that, I might've been half-right.

"This is nothing to do with your alpha male crap." Her eyes widened slightly in revelation. "What's going on?"

"You want to answer that, Ramirez?" Ranger asked in a measured tone, reflexively tightening the grip on his gun. Call it a mix of familiar cautions, born from being in the field with Ranger the mercenary for years, and being Ric the man's brother more than his cousin, but I knew that he meant business, so it was more reflex than intuition that had me placing a discreet hand over my own Glock, tucked firmly into my waistband.

Steph glanced sharply at Ramirez, her eyebrows knitting together in thought. She pursed her lips, before shaking her head decisively.

"You can lower the gun, Ranger. You're wrong."

What the hell was going on?

###

Steph POV

"You can lower the gun, Ranger," I remarked casually. "You're wrong."

Two sets of surprised eyes met mine, and I could feel Lester's confusion boring a hole in my back.

I misread the situation when I walked outside to find my two favourite imbeciles gun to gun, but who could blame me? It wasn't until I saw Ranger tighten his arm on his gun and tense his back and shoulder, and Benny flick his eyes away from me, that I realised just how far off the mark I was.

I could see Ranger's accusation in his eyes clear as day, but how much truth was there to it?

Was Benny the mole?

I looked carefully at my old partner, best friend, and boyfriend. My heart told me he didn't have the moral compass to do what De la Fuente had done, and when I looked into his eyes, that belief was only strengthened. My brain, insatiable, ran quickly through all the evidence I had that conclusively proved Benny wasn't part of De la Fuente's organisation, all of which held up spectacularly.

He was hiding something though; it felt crucial that I know.

I waited patiently for them to obey my order, before crossing my arms over my chest.

"So, either of you want to tell me what's being hidden from me?"

"How do you know he's not, Babe?" Ranger asked frustratedly. "He moved to have Project Aquila extinguished. He was trying to organise a mercenary hit on you!" I felt, more than saw, Les reach in instinctive anger to the Glock resting snugly against the small of his back.

"Leave the gun where it is, Les," I warned without turning around. "And yeah, Ranger, I know."

"You know?" Three sets of incredulous voices barrelled into me.

"Of course I do," I scoffed slightly. "You think I wouldn't have noticed three guys shadowing me, and that I wouldn't notice that I only fought two off?" I turned to Ranger. "When I took out the two idiots, I found a third not far away, who was being taken care of by a figure swathed in black. When said figure flexed his knuckles after every punch, I knew it had to be Benny," I turned to face my chagrined partner. "And if it was Benny, he had to have organised the hit to assure I wouldn't die. I take it that would've been your plausible deniability if anyone came looking for me? That I was supposed to have been dead, to the best of your knowledge, in case your plan to keep the agency ignorant to my real life backfired?" I asked with a small grin. "You were trying to protect me by staging the Aquila's death."

"Got it in one, Sugar," he mumbled. A bad feeling settled at the base of my stomach. There was something else.

"Tell me what I'm missing," I commanded, feeling authority and stoicism settle deep into my bones.

"You know how you thought Megan dying was your fault, babe?" Ranger asked me, sending Benny a livid glare. Benny looked desperate. "I beg to differ."

"You weren't there, Ranger," I clenched my teeth, my hackles raising.

"But Ramirez was," Ranger countered. "And he knew two weeks after she died, that the reason behind her death wasn't because someone knew you as the Aquila, but rather because she was investigating De la Fuente for her C.S.I project."

To say my blood was frozen would be an understatement. I turned slowly to face him, nothing short of murder in my dark blue eyes.

"Is that the truth Benito?" I asked dangerously. I felt shattered inside, as though my knees were just barely holding me up. I willed him to deny it, to yell at me for not believing in him.

Nothing came.

"Tell me!" I intoned furiously, feeling sick to my very core.

Before he could answer, I caught a tiny flicker of something in the shadow. My senses in overdrive, I reacted instinctively.

"Lester, get to the guys upstairs and keep them away from the windows," I muttered, audible only to him. He left with a nod, and the click of the door signalled the end of this conversation.

For now.

"Everybody down!" I screamed, as the glint flashed higher than before. Swiping my gun out of my waistband, I threw myself to the ground just as the deafening blast of high velocity rifles and gunshots assaulted my ears.

And then the sight that made my heart stop beating in its chest.

###

Ranger POV

I threw myself to the ground at Babe's shout, my mind going into my training and survival mode as I blocked out the events of the past 20 minutes. I tried to return fire when the cacophony of gun shots imploded the air around us, but they had a strong arsenal.

Then I saw the tiny red dot dance on my chest.

Belatedly, I realised what it was.

Then I felt the incredible, body jarring force.

Then I hit the floor.