Chapter 11

"Does the name Oswald Bauer ring any bells?"

Ranger looked up at McParrish and leaned back in his chair. "Like a new years concert. He's our target?" God, he hoped not. He didn't want his Babe anywhere near that man.

However, McParrish nodded. "What do you know about him?"

For a moment, Ranger racked his brain to gather everything together he knew about Bauer. "Born 63' in East-Germany. Military family and bringing up, followed by military training, special op's and rumored to have been an eager student for two years in China. At the age of twenty-nine he decided to leave any services and go freelancer. After five years he had earned enough money to start his own business and network. Currently one of the ten most wanted men on earth. Last time I checked he was on place six. His business is death. By now he doesn't have to do the contracts himself anymore, but whatever he deals in means death for a lot of people. Be it weaponry, drugs or Intel. He has connections to almost every family of the business, to at least four more of the list of the top tens and also to several terrorist groups, the Al-Kaida and only one of them. He's in the business for almost thirty years now; that means basically that he's deadly dangerous and knows how to keep a low profile. Last thing I heard was that he's hiking in the Ural. Not one of the persons I want to know of my Babe."

McParrish met his eyes. "We agree on that point. You're information are pretty accurate. Though he's not in the Ural anymore. I'm afraid he's right here in Trenton."

Ranger digested this news. "You think he was the one behind the shoot out," he stated. "Unlikely. There would be deaths then. And if Steph had been the target she sure wouldn't be safe in her bed right now."

"Not if he only wanted to send me a little warning. Besides, it hasn't been him who did the shooting. He probably hired some local thugs to do that. Which I want you to find by the way. But according to my source Bauer landed exactly two hours and 54 minutes ago, not only on American soil, but right here in New Jersey. Over at the little airfield three miles out of Trenton," McParrish reported.

"And you trust this source?" Ranger asked.

McParrish shrugged. "So far it hadn't failed me. So yeah, I trust the Intel. Besides, I already got it confirmed by two other sources."

Slightly annoyed that McParrish hadn't told that right from the beginning he gave him an appropriate glare for that. Then though he turned his thoughts back to Bauer. It was quite a risk for him to come here to the U.S.A. as he'd be arrested immediately and thrown into some deep dark hole from where he'd hardly be able to come out of alive. Regardless of all the human rights, despite of any conventions made in Geneva, there were still persons who were simply dealt with in order to keep humanity safe. As a soldier who had fought on many fronts and had spilled a lot of blood for the American citizens Ranger wasn't opposed to that idea. Truth was that he himself had already had to deal with a few of these persons. And it wasn't those kills that gave him nightmares.

Thoughtfully, he gazed at McParrish. "Bauer must have a few damn good reasons to come here and risk arrest. Somehow I have trouble that you can mean so much to him."

The Irish gave Ranger a humorless smile. "Oh, I have no doubt that Bauer has several business deals to make as well. He's efficient and practical. Mostly though he's here because he wants to take revenge on me – personally. And now that he found out about Nisha, he has the perfect instrument for that."

Ranger raised an eyebrow. "And why would he be so interested in any revenge against you?"

But McParrish shook his head. "That's confidential. Let's just say that we know each other for a long time now and he feels betrayed by me. And that I was close enough to him that it got personal."

Joder.

That wasn't good at all. If you had a man like Bower as your enemy it was bad. You had him out on revenge at you it was a damn Armageddon. And once again his Babe was caught right in the middle of it. Just how did she manage to do that time and time again? Alone the thought of her falling into Bauer's hands made Ranger's heart squeeze painfully in cold dread.

That simply couldn't happen.

Mostly though, in order to protect her, he needed to keep a clear head. And to get this mission over as fast as possible. He sat forward. "You mentioned traitors. Have you any suspects?"

McParrish's features darkened. "More or less the whole team could be dirty, though I doubt that. Over the last years, there had been several ops that went FUBAR. Not enough to send up any red flags or get in serious trouble with the brass – but still troublesome. There wasn't any pattern though, so it was hard to connect the different failures. Lately though I started to wonder. Now I have no doubt that there's a mole."

"Why?" Ranger wanted to know.

McParrish's answer was softly spoken. "Nisha."

Shit, that was what Ranger had feared.

"In my file Nisha is listed as my wife, but nothing more. No maiden name, no real name, no address, nothing. It is a procedure we follow in order to protect our families. Only two more people of the team are allowed to know the truth of our close ones. And there are encoded files, buried deep in the system, that are so well hidden and coded in inconspicuous things that no one would notice that he has the most valuable information in his hand. Really," McParrish assured when he saw Ranger's doubtful expression. "So when my file had been breached the hacker shouldn't have had the slightest idea how to find Nisha. Yet, Bauer found her."

Hmm… Not a bad system to protect the families. The problem was just that it could never be a hundred per cent sure. That Ranger knew only too well. And it was ultimately what kept him from being with his Babe. But now was not the time to muse about that.

Ranger met McParrish's eyes. "So who of your team knew about Steph?"

A shadow cast over McParrish's face. "My boss, Jeremiah Felton, who I respect like a father, and my partner Kevin O'Brian, who I loved like a brother – and who has been killed in action three months ago."

Ranger contemplated that. "Was your partner tortured?"

"No." And the firm set of McParrish's jaw spoke clearly that he wasn't about to give more details than that.

Well, if it had been Tank Ranger wouldn't want to give more away either.

"You think he was the one who ratted you out?" He still had to ask though.

The green eyes chilled. "Never," he answered flatly.

For a moment, Ranger held McParrish's furious gaze and then nodded. He believed him. But then, partners always were a tricky thing.

"Besides, the timing is all wrong," McParrish added after he took a deep breath.

Ranger raised an eyebrow.

"My file hasn't been breached until the day before yesterday," the other man elaborated.

Shit, that was fast. "And not twenty four hours later there had been an attempt on Steph's life, supposedly she really had been the target."

"Oh she had," McParrish muttered darkly. "If I hadn't been fast enough to get her out of the line, she'd be dead now. The bullets will confirm that."

Yeah, they had. As well as Tank who had told him the same thing. And it still made Ranger's heart miss a few beats whenever he allowed himself to think about it.

"Not to forget that less than forty-eight hours later Bauer is back on US soil, Trenton even," McParrish reminded.

Ranger gave another slow nod. "So it's Felton."

Looking unhappy, McParrish nodded. "I'm afraid so. Especially after some things that Nisha told me about the time after my – our separation."

Ranger burnt to know what McParrish had been about to say before he had stopped himself. Something told him that whatever it was, it was a large point in his Babe's life. A life he apparently didn't know as well as he had thought. But he also knew that it would be futile to try to get it out of McParrish.

"What things?" he still inquired though. Perhaps that would give him some leads to work with.

But McParrish shrugged. "Just some things that don't correspond to official procedure – or to what Felton had told me." He sighed. "But I still can't understand why he'd rat me out. Rat my wife out."

Ranger shrugged. "Money's always a good motive in such cases."

Again McParrish shook his head. "Doubt it. Comes from a rich family, married into an even richer family."

Interesting. And unusual for people with that kind of a job. Most of them hadn't much money – or came from a distinguished family. "Still doesn't exclude it. He could have had a bad series of luck."

"For the past seven years?" McParrish voiced his doubts.

"Or someone threatened his family," Ranger continued to suggest.

The green eyes opposite him got hard. "Or he's just not the man I thought he is, who betrayed me, Nisha and this country just because he's been a double agent right from the very beginning," McParrish countered coldly.

Ranger nodded. "Or that."

Silence filled the room until McParrish sighed. "In the end it doesn't matter. But Felton has to be stopped. And I'll need proof to have something to give our superiors in order to save my ass. I'll work on that angle. You, I want to search for the ones that did the shoot out. It has been sloppy work and unbelievable stupid, so I think you won't have too much problem to do that. Plus, we need to find Bauer's location for his stay here in Trenton. I'll work through my contacts, but it's very possible that you have better recourses to get this information."

If Ranger hated one thing, then it was to be told minutely what to do. It was one of the reasons why he had left the army and worked as a free lancer. On the other hand it was McParrish that had hired him for this. Still… the guy could be lucky that so far he had had reasonable orders for Ranger. And that his Babe's life was at stake.

"And Manoso?"

Frowning, Ranger looked at McParrish.

The agent gave him a stern look. "No solo tours. I want to be informed about every step of your investigation. Furthermore, you won't do anything without first running it by me. Especially if you find Bauer. I'm the one in charge."

Now it was Ranger's turn to give an icy glare. But before he could give a clipped response, his cell phone rang. He had it open and at his ear in the break of a second. It was Hal. "Yo."

"Sir, the Bombshell just left her apartment."

Now? Ranger threw a glance at the clock on the wall. It was just past three a clock. Where would she want to go at this hour?

"Ok, stay on her."

McParrish raised an eyebrow. To hell with him. He'd have to wait.

"Yes, Sir, we wanted to. There just occurred a small problem," Hal hesitantly admitted.

Alarmed, Ranger straightened. He feared what this small problem could be. It was almost never small as soon as his Babe was involved.

When he said nothing, Hal continued his report. "We were just about to follow her when we noticed a black Saurus without light pulling in. Three masked men got out of it and are right now entering the Bombshell's building. We assume they're headed for her apartment."

Fuck.

Of course he could split up Hal and Cal, but one against three with unknown training? He looked at McParrish. "Steph left her apartment a few minutes ago. And just missed a commando of three masked men heading her way."

McParrish got up immediately, reaching for his jacket. "How fast can we be there? Twelve minutes?"

For that that the guy had only been in Trenton for a short time, he sure had a pretty accurate take on the distances. Ranger nodded. It was a considerable long time to get there, especially if they were pros. But they still were the closest.

"I'm on my way. Stay on Steph," he ordered Hal.

"Yes, Sir."

The line disconnected and Ranger grabbed his own jacket and keys. More weapons would be in the car.

Neither of the two men spoke a word as they hurried down to the garage. Not a minute later they were speeding away from Ranger's grounds. The silence stretched in the car for several minutes.

"You love her, don't you, Manoso?" McParrish finally broke the silence.

Ranger didn't even bother to glance at him, let alone offer any response.

McParrish chuckled. "Oh well, just keep your silence. I can see it anyway, pal."

Ranger fought hard to not grind his teeth. He had no intention to give that man any indications – or satisfaction.

Yet, McParrish apparently didn't want to leave it alone. "There's one thing though I wonder about: you're a man of action, as much is obvious. So why aren't you together with her right now?"

Because he was the idiot of the millennia? Not that he was going to tell that McParrish.

"Come on. I'm trying to find out how Nisha spent the past few years. How her life had been. And of course I have a natural interest in her love life," McParrish good-humoredly said.

Finally, Ranger flickered a glance at him. "She hears you talking like that, she'll have your balls. Again," he added with not just a little, petty gloat.

Instead of being affronted though, McParrish just laughed out loud. "That she would indeed. But that's just the fun in it, no?"

Damn. Ranger started to like the guy.

"So spill it. I promise I won't tell her that you talked out of the closet," McParrish tried to convince him.

When Ranger remained silent, he shook his head in exasperation. "Ok, pal, then all I can do is guess: another man?"

As he got the feeling that McParrish wouldn't let it rest, Ranger finally succumbed to the interrogation a bit. "For the past two years she's been in a relationship with Morelli."

"Morelli? The choo-choo-boy? The Tasty Pastry guy?" McParrish laughed, but then frowned. "Wasn't he the cop who questioned me? Ah, that explains a few things." Then he sighed. "But you don't want to tell me that he was the reason for you to stay away, do you? We both know that it could never have been serious between Nisha and Morelli. Too much of bad history. And he's from the Burg. Nisha will never be Burg material. I bet their relationship had been like oil and water."

True enough. And Ranger liked not one of McParrish's words. This guy knew his Babe way too much for his liking. Worse, each word implied how very much he didn't want his Babe to change, just loving and accepting her the unique way she was. So not good for his own chances with his Babe. So in order to avoid any more questions he asked one of his own, even though it left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Why do you call her Nisha?" he asked and glanced at McParrish to see his reaction to the question.

McParrish smiled softly. "It's short for Anisha. It means constant. Steady. From the moment I met her she became the first and only constant thing in my life. And I knew after our first kiss that she was what I wanted in life and I gave her that alias already, sure she'd need it in no time. I knew that our relationship, our love, would be steady through all the high waters that my job would bring along. So Nisha it was."

Joder, Ranger thought, while his heart clenched in almost unbearable pain. He felt McParrish's eyes on him and risked another glance at him, only to see him looking thoughtfully at him.

"Don't get me wrong, Manoso: I consider myself lucky that out of some reason you refused to give in to your feelings for Nisha. I know that otherwise I probably would have lost her forever. I'm just curious to what circumstance I owe that luck," McParrish very softly said.

Ranger felt more and more like the big, losing idiot. Not that he let any of his emotions be shown.

"Nor do I have a grudge against you because you're in love with my wife," McParrish continued. "How could I? I of all men should know best just how irresistible her charm is. And actually, your feelings for her are admittedly very handy at the moment. This way I know for sure that you'll do everything in your power to protect her, keep her safe."

This guy definitely knew way too much, that was for sure. And this annoying fact aside, Ranger certainly hated where this conversation was going to.

Sure enough, just as Ranger slowed down to pull into his Babe's parking lot, McParrish had one more thing to say.

"Yet, you should know one thing: Now that I've found Nisha again, I won't leave her ever again. She's my wife. And I'll do everything in my power to keep it that way," McParrish said evenly, making the warning in his voice all the more unmistakable.

This time, Ranger couldn't stop himself from clenching his jaw and grinded his teeth. He had already figured out as much. But the really painful thing was that Ranger had the very bad hunch that his Babe would indeed cease to be his Babe – to be solely McParrish's Nisha.

And this fear was nearly tearing his heart apart.

TBC!

(Author's Note: I can't let you wait any longer for the new chapter, now, can't I? Not after all the wonderful reviews you guys still spoil me with! Hope you liked this new little bit as well!)