Chapter 12

SPOV

I know I was warm, and snuggled up against Ranger, but I wasn't sure where I was or how I had got here. The last thing I remember was threatening Aden, should I feel guilty for feeling so good about doing that? He was responsible for so many things that had gone wrong in my life, surely he deserved it? Oh god, did I kill him?

"Shush Babe, no you didn't kill him, you frightened him to death though and you got answers from him, you were brilliant. I'm proud of how you held yourself together, but where the hell did you get that knife from?"

I laughed at the question he had asked and without opening my eyes I gave him the answer.

"Hector"

Hector had slipped it to me when we'd got to the cemetery and I'd hidden it down the side of my yoga pants next to my thigh.

I opened my eyes to Ranger looking at my face; his hand was on my cheek while the other was wrapped around me as I sat across his knees. I panicked and looked around.

"Where are we?"

"Military cargo aircraft, on our way to Grafenworh, Germany"

"Why there?"

"That's where Kendrick has to unload equipment, so we hitched a lift"

"Are you allowed to do that?"

"Technically a serving officer can hitch a lift with an aircraft"

I smiled because that meant not really, but we were doing it and I'm sure there'd be no record of any stowaways on board. The plane shuddered which was what had probably woken me up, I looked around, there looked to be large crates strapped down and we were sat on the floor lent against the side.

"Where's Aden?"

"On the other side with Santos, Hector and Ram. He's not going anywhere"

"What happens when we get there?"

"We have use of a small cabin in Manteler forest for a few days to plan out what we do next"

The plane dropped and my stomach went with it, shit were we going down?

"We're about to land so it may get bumpy"

Bumpy, is that what he called it? My grip around Ranger tightened as I felt the wheels touch the ground and then relaxed, why were we still moving? We came to a stop and then I felt the plane turning around. Ram was already at a door at the side of the plane and he quickly opened it, Hector and Ram moved a small crate and started to lower it by rope then turned to me.

"You next Beautiful"

I looked through the door into blackness, no stairs, how the hell was I supposed to get down? Lester tied a rope around my waist and tried to push me out of the door, no way was that happening.

"Babe, we're going to lower you down, we need to be quick before Kendrick taxis the plane up to the hangers"

Big breath girl, they won't let you fall. I slowly sat on the edge then felt myself being lowered down. A soon as my feet hit the ground I undid the rope and watched as each man was lowered down, I assume the pilot lowered Ranger because as soon as he untied the rope it was pulled back up and the door was shut. We were at the end of the runway and Ranger grabbed my hand and pulled me to beyond the tarmac where there was an old jeep parked. It wasn't long before we were unloading and walking into the cabin, this was going to be fun, there were two rooms and a bathroom, at least we had a working toilet I wasn't sure if there was hot water, probably not. The main room was set up with a kitchen area and table with benches and an area with two large couches around a coffee table. It was bare and it was old but I suppose for a few days I could survive. The second room was a bedroom with bunk beds and a fold down bed, only mattresses, no bedding. The floors and walls were both made from logs laid on top of each other, but once a fire was lit it was warm enough. I left the men to organize themselves whilst I lay on the couch, trying to think, what we'd been told by different people just didn't make sense to me and I needed to think it through.

Aden had said Omar wanted power and money, that his business was failing but that he had some new weapon he needed to sell. Why did Aden kidnap us from Cairo, where was he taking us, and whom was he taking us to, was it Maria? Then there was what Maria had said, that Khalid's family didn't like him with her, Maria wanted to live in Saudi with her husband, but Omar didn't like that. He wanted what Khalid had, Maria and Mia and the love of his parents. Maria had said that Omar was sullen and was evil, and that she was sure he'd killed Khalid, that they'd been arguing a lot over parts of their fathers business, Omar wanted to venture into dark areas where he said there was lots of money to be made. Aden had worked for her and had managed to get close to Omar when he noticed Omar's obsession with me. So how did we end up being taken again from Aden only to meet up with, I assume, the buyer. No someone was lying big time only I didn't know who it was.

"Babe?"

I jumped not realizing Ranger had knelt down next to the couch.

"You're frowning, what's worrying you?"

"Everything and everyone"

"Talk me through it"

So I went through everything I'd just been thinking about, and the more I said the more convinced I was that I was right to question every ones motives.

"You make a good argument and I have to agree with your logic, so what do you need to find out?"

"Who the American is"

He laughed at that.

"What's so funny?"

"Babe, if we could find that out then I think all our problems would be solved, the thing is no one we've talked to seems to know who he is"

"I've seen him, I need to do some searches, and he's tied in more personally than just being some random man who wants to buy weapons"

"All right, I've sent Santos out for some food, when we've eaten I'll get Hector to set you up with a laptop"

I could have kissed Lester when he brought in a large bag that smelled like heaven, pizza, mouth-watering pizza with every topping imaginable covered in thick melted cheese.

"Thought you'd appreciate that, there's also a bag from Dunkin Donuts just for you Beautiful"

I didn't say a word, I don't think I needed to, the smile on my face and the kiss I placed on his cheek must have told him how much I loved what he'd brought. As we sat at the table I'm sure I moaned my way through everything, hell everything tasted so tasty and had the taste buds in mouth rioting. Both Ranger and Lester looked uncomfortable but I didn't care, I was stuffed full and now felt full of energy. I looked over at Ranger who sensed me watching him; he smiled and kissed the top of my head as he got up.

"Hector can you set Steph up with a laptop to do some searches?"

"Si, here at the table?"

I nodded and went and fetched a cushion from one of the couches to sit on, if I was going to be sat here for a while I needed to be comfortable.

"Babe, Hector will be inside with you, Ram is on patrol outside and Lester is getting some sleep to do the second watch, I'm going to talk with Aden"

I sat down and booted up the laptop and went into the search program, now how to go about this. I knew there was nothing on Burhan and without last names this wasn't going to be easy. I reduced that box and went into the universities in New York, putting in the year just before Mia was born. I wanted to find some photographs with names and surely Khalid wouldn't be a popular name. I started with Business and Economic courses, Maria hadn't said what course he'd taken but those seemed as good a place as any to start. Three hours later and I was still trolling through photographs when I came across one naming one of the students as Khalid Hanbury, that made sense when I thought about the name Omar had given me, for some reason people always liked to stay with something familiar. Okay now to put that name into the search, yes he seemed to be the one I was looking for, he was doing a university course in Business and Economics, just as I had thought. The search brought up a history for him that ended abruptly when Mia was born, but what was strange was that there was no record of him being married or of having a daughter, he'd died in a mugging in Saudi, maybe that's why Maria thought Omar was responsible because no one had been charged with the attack. Now I had a last name so I put Omar Hanbury into the search. Interesting, he had homes all over the world and listed his occupation as Entrepreneur. There were no marriages or children only the names for his parents, their mother had died a number of years ago, before Khalid had gone to America to study and the father had retired and was travelling around the world, I saved that information to a file on the laptop. I needed to find Maria; my spidey senses were telling me that she was the key to all of this. The problem was how? I didn't have a last name and Khalid's information hadn't mentioned her. She looked like me, maybe if I photo shopped my image, you know changed the hair and the eyes and the shape of her face? I brought up my image from ten years ago and changed the hair to being shorter and less frizzy, more wavy and lighter. Okay her eyes were a paler blue and her nose was slightly longer than mine and her cheeks were fuller. I sat back and looked at the image I'd created, I tweaked with the shape of her eyes a bit and was amazed that it looked so much like the portrait.

"Hector, can I access a face recognition program on here?"

Hector came over and using the mouse clicked on an icon I'd not really noticed before.

"Where is photo?"

"Use this one"

"Let me set this up for you it's going to take awhile and you need to sleep, Ranger is already asleep, he's on last watch"

"Where?"

"He's next door with Ram and the prisoner, you sleep on couch"

I wasn't going to argue, I was tired and at least I'd hear when the program found something. Hector brought a blanket for me and watched as I lay down, then he turned off the lights and sat back on the other couch. I was missing the feel of Ranger beside me, his warm body, the smell of him. How did I get so lucky for us to be together? I twisted the ring on my finger just to make sure I hadn't dreamt that day he'd given it to me and immediately saw him on the floor with a pool of blood around his head, no, he was alive and here, he wasn't dead. I must have been crying out in my sleep because suddenly I could feel him here with me, his hands stroking my hair and back, he was alive and he'd come and found me, brought me with him. I felt myself relax and this time I saw his face as it had been when he'd made love to me at the hotel in Riyadh, his eyes black with desire as he kissed me making me love him even more if that was possible. A dinging sounded that was so out of context to what I was seeing that I opened my eyes and found myself in the cabin in Germany, alone in the room. The dinging was coming from the computer; the search for the face must have found something. I got up quickly and went to see what it had found, holding my breath, I didn't know what to expect, was I excited or feeling worried? Maybe the image I'd produced wasn't good enough. What on earth was the program telling me? Yes it had found several possible matches but the names that came up had me questioning my sanity. They all seemed to be the same woman but each had a different name associated with it. It seemed Maria was not who she said she was, so who exactly was she, and how did she relate to Mia, Khalid and Omar?

"Babe, did you find something?"

"Yes, but, it doesn't make sense"

"Show me"

"Well according to the facial recognition program the woman we met has three names, non of which is Maria"

Ranger turned the laptop to look for himself and then looked up at me, yeah I think he was as confused as me. I sat at the laptop and put each of the three names into the search program and hit the button for it to start, more time to wait again.

"Let me take you out for breakfast, Ram's in charge here and Hector is sleeping, we'll give it an hour then we'll meet and decide what to do next, maybe by then the searches will have finished"

I could go with that, I pulled my hair back into a ponytail and headed for the door. He laughed at me as he caught up and then with an arm around my shoulder led me out to the jeep. We found a small café on the outskirts of a town, too early to be busy, but late enough for there to be plenty of food prepared. We had a typical German breakfast according to Ranger. There were different varieties of Brötchen (bread rolls), marmalade and jam, chocolate spread, cheeses, hams, salami, Schwarzwaelderschinken which apparently was Black Forest smoked ham and honey. I enjoyed the variety of tastes that were put together and had to have a try of everything, washed down with hot chocolate it was a good way to start the day.

"I enjoyed that, could we maybe have that when we get back?"

"I'm sure Ella would serve up anything you want to try"

That made me think, it had been so long since I felt I'd been home, where was home anymore, my apartment or the apartment on seven?

"Babe, where'd you go?"

"Sorry, I was just thinking that I haven't been in Trenton for so long I don't know where home is"

"Wherever you want it to be"

"Just feels strange that's all"

"Where would you like to live?"

"I don't know, well I do, but that depends doesn't it?"

"Babe where ever you live I'll be with you"

"It seems so weird that I've spent so much time away from Trenton"

"Do you miss it?"

I had to think about that, was there anything I missed about Trenton? No not really, Connie and Lula had moved on and my family, I know they maybe love me in their own way, sheesh, there's that expression again, but would I miss my mother nagging me and my father ignoring me. I'd miss Grandma but she was the only person.

"No, I don't think I do, I've not thought about being home at all, only about you"

"We'll talk about this later, let me get the men some breakfast then we'll get back"

As we drove back to the cabin I sat and really thought about what he'd asked. I felt like a nomad at the moment, and to honest I was all right with that. While Ram, Lester and Hector ate their breakfast Ranger took some food for Aden and I sat down again in front of the laptop. The searches had finished and now there was a pattern developing, all three names belonged to the same woman. They had the same birthday and very similar education, including attending the University in New York. Family was different for each of them so I started with the search that went back the furthest, reckoning that maybe this was who she started as. The name for her was Lydia Mayers, born in Boston to parents who were still alive, but the gem in the information was that she'd had a sister called Maria who'd died at the age of 22, she was 2 years older than Lydia. Okay back into the search with Maria Mayers; let's see what happened to her. The information soon came back, she'd died whilst giving birth to a baby daughter, she hadn't been married but Khalid was named on the birth certificate as the father. When I thought about the portrait I'm sure it was one of Lydia, yes for sisters they looked similar, did Omar know Lydia? That she was pretending to be Maria, this was getting more convoluted as it went on. Lydia had taken on the identity of her older sister and she'd been at same university as Maria, two years behind. I saved all the information from the searches as Ranger and the men came and sat down with me, time to start planning.

"Hector, anything on the trackers used?"

"Not ones that you can buy in the states, but I've managed to lock onto the signal they emit if they're in range"

"Santos you get anything more from Aden?"

"No, he's being really tight lipped, I think he was trying to milk two employers at the same time and ended up burnt, I have his mobile so if we want to set up a trap for Omar we could do that"

"Babe by the look on your face you've found something"

"The woman calling herself Maria is actually Lydia Mayers, Maria's younger sister. According to a death certificate Maria died in child birth but did name Khalid Hanbury as the father, which makes it Omar Hanbury, I still need to run a search on Omar Hanbury and then find out who the father is"

"I think we need to let you finish your searches then at least we may have better Intel on Omar if we're going to go after him, anyone any other suggestions?"

"I'll try to get Aden to give me information on where he normally meets him, at least which country"

We each went our own way, me back to the laptop, the men seemed to disappear outside, I wondered what that was about, were they thinking of something else to do that didn't include me? Nah, wer'e in Germany there was nothing they could do here. I set up the search on Omar, he couldn't have been much older than Khalid, but there was still something that was niggling me and it was centered on Lydia. I'd made the mistake of laying my head on my arms as I waited and was out for the count. It was the feel of soft kisses on my neck that made me aware that Ranger was with me. I smiled as his mouth moved across from my ear to my lips and without opening my eyes I looped an arm around his neck to deepen the kiss. I had so missed this in the last 24 hours, his touch, and his smell, as my breathing hitched I felt a need deep inside. He slowly pulled away kissing the tip of my nose.

"Babe don't play with fire, there's a forest out there we could get lost in"

Was I that desperate? Maybe but the thought went from my mind as the laptop began beeping.

"Sorry, work calls"

"Let me see what you've got"

We both started to read the information, I would focus on totally different things to him, like the fact that he'd gone to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I'd have a look at who he was there with. His mother had died when he was a teenager but his father was still alive another area to search, I wanted to find out why Lydia was living in Rayidh, was the father there as well?

"Babe I know you'll take a different route from me, I'll get a start on some of the property he owns and businesses he's involved with"

He went into the other room and came back with another laptop and sat down next to me. I liked that we were working together; it felt right, it made me feel closer to him. I was scouring through the photos from the years Omar was at university when I knew I was on to something, my leg was bouncing with anticipation when Rangers hand settled on my thigh, I didn't look at him because I knew I was close to seeing something important. It wasn't in a photograph as I imagined it would be, it was a mention of Omar being presented a technology prize by a benefactor of the university, and the reason it caught my eye was the name, Oliver Mayers. I quickly put that into the search and waited, I was high on nervous energy, he couldn't be Maria and Lydia's father because I'd read he worked as a hotel manager and he'd retired years ago, there were no brothers so was this man related, did Omar know him? As the photo of the man came on to the screen I froze, whilst sat staring at the screen I could see that man in the building, looking at Mia and shouting at me. He looked about fifty, but it was hard to tell, he was going bald, his light auburn hair stuck out all over the place. His face was narrow and he had the beginning of jowls under his jaw by his neck. It was his eyes that I remembered now and they were looking back at me from the screen, small cold grey eyes.

"Babe, look at me"

I was shaking now, but not from excitement of finding the man who seemed to haunt me, but from absolute fear. I felt myself being lifted and held, strong arms around me, a voice in my ear.

"Querida, shush, you're safe, it's only a memory"

I looked at him through tear filled eyes and pulled him closer, if that was possible.

"I found him, I remember him"

"Babe that's a good thing, now we know who we're up against and we can put an end to all this"

I knew he was right, it just seemed such an unreachable wish at the moment, and I knew he couldn't hurt me when I was with Ranger, but that didn't stop me from being afraid.

"Let's see who he is and how he fits into this"

He sat me on the couch and fetched my laptop; maybe the photo of him wasn't as scary as he'd been in my memory.

"Babe I'll read out what it says, tell me if something jumps out at you, okay?"

I nodded my head but really I was also reading the information as well. He was 45 years old, and he was Lydia's uncle, her fathers' younger brother. He'd had a successful engineering company that had gone into bankruptcy nine years ago, that was after Mia was born and when Khalid had died.

"What did his engineering company do to end up bankrupt?"

"Seems he was suspected of engineering parts for automatic rifles, but he was never charged with anything, then he was suddenly declared bankrupt"

"So if he was supplying Omar and Omar's father got wind of it and stopped the deal would those have caused him to lose his company and all his money?"

"Possibly, especially if he put his money into Omar's venture"

"So what next?"

"It says here that he's now an Entrepreneur"

"So Omar had the weapon and Oliver wanted to buy it? Sounds the wrong way round to me"

"What? You think that Oliver wants money in exchange for the device?"

"What device?"

Oh, he hadn't meant for that to slip out, but it had so he'd better tell me the truth. He closed his eyes, yep he was thinking of a way to talk himself out of this.

"Babe"

"Don't you Babe me, I have a right to know what the hell it is that they are selling and buying"

"I was told it was a small nuclear device"

"Shit, that's scary, that's humungous"

"Yeah and you haven't heard it, all right?"

"Heard what?"

"We need to get back to the states and get hold of Omar"

"Do you think Alex might know something?"

"Alex?"

"Yeah, Alexander Ramos, he's in that trade isn't he?"

"Maybe, but it could be dangerous just to go and ask him"

"Nah, he likes me"

Ranger just shook his head at me, but he knew I was right, Alex had a soft spot for me and I knew he respected Ranger even if sometimes they were on opposite sides. I didn't realize how late it had got until Lester came in carrying bags of food.

"Sorry Beautiful, I could only get hold of sandwiches"

We packed away everything after we ate, for some reason I wasn't overly hungry, maybe when we got back to the states I could splurge out and get meatball subs from Pinos. Two hours later we were back at the airfield at the end of the runway watching a large plane taxi toward us. When it stopped it wasn't the same pilot but Lester seemed to know him and we were soon on board. This time there were seats on the outside of the hold, with straps, and before I realized it we were trundling down the runway. It was bumpy and uncomfortable even lent against Ranger and I didn't feel well. I was fidgeting and had my head in my hands.

"Babe what's wrong?"

"Doesn't feel right, my nerves are all over the place"

"This is going to be a long flight, at least nine hours, get comfortable and see if you can sleep"

Sleep here? I undid the straps, stood up and found a blanket, the floor wasn't much better but I needed to calm myself down. The next thing I knew Ranger was beside me pulling me to him to lay my head on his chest, his arm under my head and my arm across his chest. Much better, at last I felt as though I could try to get some rest.

RPOV

Once settled Steph seemed to sleep, she was very restless but I didn't think she was dreaming. I was used to sleeping anywhere I had to so soon allowed myself to fall into a light sleep, at least enough to recharge my energy. What woke me was Steph trying to get up; she looked very pale and was shaking slightly.

"Babe how are you doing?"

"How long till we land?"

I looked at my watch and worked out how long we'd been in the air.

"About an hour"

"Something's wrong, my spidey senses are telling me there's real big trouble ahead, we have to get off the plane, something bad is about to happen"

I have always had the upmost respect for these feelings Steph gets and the fact that she was getting so agitated had me worried as well. I made to get up and she was suddenly looking right into my eyes and they told me she was scared shitless.

"Wait here, I'm going to talk with Santos and Ram"

I found the two of them further up the plane and had to wake Santos up.

"What do you know of the pilot?"

"Why, what's wrong?"

"Steph is positive there's danger when we land"

"He's flown me in and out from a few missions, Kendrick said he has a good reputation"

"Get the chutes out, we're leaving before this plane hits the ground"

"What about Aden?"

"We're taking him with us"

Santos and Ram got together what we would need, next was to make sure Hector distributed his gear between the two other men, I'd need to tandem Steph up to me. We worked in silence as straps were fastened and checked then made sure any gear we had to take with us was packed. Next I had to get Steph sorted out, I'd found a jump suit she could wear because it would be cold jumping from the height we were at.

"Babe, I know how accurate your spidey senses are so we're not going to land with the plane"

She looked at me, obviously confused, then saw the straps and parachute I had on.

"Put this on"

I handed her the jump suit, surprised when she did as I asked, in fact she was so quiet I was really beginning to worry. I looped another set of straps around her, between her legs and over her shoulders pulling them tightly to be sure they were secure. I'd jumped carrying more weight than Steph, but that weight didn't move about or panic. I turned her so her back was to my front and secured her to me.

"Babe, I would never put you in harms way, trust me with this. Keep your eyes and mouth closed all the time, I won't let go of you"

She nodded, but she was still too quiet.

"Babe. You're quiet, no questions?"

She shook her head and then turned it at the sound of the door opening. Cold air rushed into the hold, I folded her arms in front of her and lifted her to the edge of the door, I suppose the fact that it was still dark might be a good thing. Ram went first, then Hector and I fell forward out into the blackness, Santos was following behind me once he'd pushed Aden out. I felt Steph tense then relax, had she passed out? Maybe that would be a good thing; I'd just need to be more careful when we landed. I kept my eye on the altimeter and when I hit the height I needed I pulled on the chord to release the parachute. As I straightened out I wrapped my legs around her, her head tipped back toward me, leaning against my chest, her eyes were bright and she had a smile on her face, thank god for that, maybe now she really felt that she was flying. Ram had lit a flare to guide us to a safe spot to land and I maneuvered us to land where it was, gliding slowly and taking my legs back ready for the landing.

"Pull your legs up Babe, I'll take the landing"

She did as asked and we landed, me using a run to reduce the impact from the ground and Ram stopping us and holding Steph. I watched her as I undid the straps and set out about removing my own harness, Ram was stood in front of Steph trying hard to release hers. "Woman, will you keep still, I can't get this harness off if you keep bouncing up and down"

I looked down momentarily and was suddenly hit by a body throwing themselves at me; I tripped over the bag behind me and went backwards on to my back. When I opened my eyes there was a pair of bright blue ones staring at me. Shit was she going to have a go at me for making her jump out of the plane?

"I loved it, it was absolutely amazing, and I was flying. Can we do that again in the day time then I can see the view?"

Santos and Ram laughed at that outburst, I'm sure they weren't expecting that response from her either, only my Babe could surprise us like that. I sat up with her still straddling my waist and with my hands on her cheeks and kissed her, deeply and passionately, her body molding to my mine as she circled my neck with her arms.

"It's a promise"

"Err Beautiful, how about you put your fiancé down and let's get the hell out of here?"

She pulled away from me and pushed herself up onto her feet, allowing me to do the same.

"I'll let Tank know where we are and get him to leave someone by the airfield, I'd like to know if we were going to be ambushed"

Aden was now stood close to Santos, muttering to himself and holding his arm.

"What happened to him?"

"Aden? He thought he could do a runner, I landed on him when I hit the ground"

Santos laughed as he said it, pushing Aden in front of him. Santos was too good with a parachute to lose someone on the ground.

We rolled the chutes down and collected our bags making our way to the rendezvous point with Tank. We'd landed north east of New York, fortunately when we bailed out the plane was over land heading south into the base. As we walked through the trees toward Flat Rock Hill Road I was trying to work out where the best place was for us to go. As we reached the narrow lane headlights flashed from one of the two SUVs parked there, I made for the front one to see Tank in the drivers seat.

"I left Cal at the airfield, he's got Vince with a car as backup, so we'll see what happens when the plane lands, though it should be there by now"

"Santos take Aden and put him in a cell at Rangeman"

The others left in the second car leaving Steph and I with Tank, where I'd decided to go only Tank knew about and I hadn't been there for a while. Tank's phone buzzed and he switched it across to the speaker in the car. Steph had climbed in to the back and was now sat forward on the seat between Tank and I.

"Quite a performance when that plane landed. It was met at the end of the runway where Ranger would have got off and there must have been a platoon of men there, all with rifles ready to fire. There was this Colonel there who seemed to be in charge, he was pissed when they found the plane empty of passengers, shouting and bawling at everyone, so I guess Ranger missed a welcome home committee"

How Steph managed to intuitively know that there was danger was beyond my understanding, hell my instincts were good as was that of other soldiers but no one I had come across compared to her.

"Good call Babe"

"What, you mean you bailed because of Little Girl?"
"She knew there'd be danger when we landed"

Steph sat back smiling, yeah she had reason to be proud of herself. I turned to Tank who had now moved the car to join the highway.

"Drop us off at the primary base"

"You sure?"

"What's the primary base?"

"You'll find out"

Steph sat back in her seat, she knew that I would tell her what I could at the moment, and that she'd find out more once we got there.

"Ranger you've not been there for awhile, you want me to drop off some supplies from Ella, and you know food and maybe clothes?"

"Yeah, it'll need a clean when we get there"

We travelled in silence for the rest of the journey; Steph wasn't asleep probably because she was keen to know where we were going. Tank took several detours making sure we weren't being followed and when he was confident we weren't he headed toward the primary base. I hit the fob on my key ring as we approached an old warehouse, the large wooden doors swinging out to reveal a parking area, as we cleared the entrance the doors automatically closed behind us. Tank parked the car and I helped Steph out from the back and then holding her hand in mine led her toward the wall at the back. To all intents and purposes it looked like we were inside an old warehouse, there were sheets over vehicles and old crates lying around, giving the look of being abandoned. My key fob opened a door hidden behind an old cabinet that in turn led into a small entranceway. There were two doors, but only one was a working door, I opened the first door and allowed Steph to walk through first.

"Ranger I'll head back and get those supplies, expect me back in about an hour"

Tank returned through to the garage area and I closed the two doors behind him. Steph was still stood where I'd left her.

"You can go in Babe, it probably needs a good clean, I haven't been here for a while"

"So what is this place?"

"It was where I lived and worked before I set up Rangeman on Haywood"

"Were you here when I met you then?"

"Yes, Tank came here for a while but then we found the building on Haywood and started to employ other men and I just moved in there"

"Why do you still keep this place then?"

"Not sure, maybe it's sentimental reasons"

Yeah, who was I kidding, I'd been here when Steph had phoned asking me to release her from her curtain rod, twice, because I didn't believe her the first time she called. I pushed her through to the kitchen, it was basic, but it had everything you needed to cook food with and a table and chairs. The cupboards were old wooden ones as was the table with wooden tops. The floor was linoleum that had seen better days but it did us well at the time.

"Babe I'm going to switch on the power and fire up the boiler for hot water, why don't you have a look round"

The windows in the entire apartment were at the top of the walls, at the time I thought that this gave some privacy and over time I'd had the glass replaced with mirrored bulletproof glass. As I moved through the kitchen I decided that maybe it wasn't in as bad condition as I had thought. I found Steph in the lounge looking at the books on the shelves, there was a diverse selection, from poetry to economics to computer science, she turned to me.

"This place tells me more about you than your apartment on seven"

"There's a lot of personal stuff here, I just never got round to deciding whether or not I wanted it at Rangeman"

"When were you last here?"

"During the Ramos affair, I hid out here"

She'd taken down a framed photograph from the shelf and was studying it, a frown on her face.

"That's one from the regiment I was in before I moved across to do the special ops work"

"Who's that?"

"He was our commanding officer at the time, he's the Colonel who's after getting his hands on you"
"What's he called?"

Why was she suddenly interested in that, she hadn't met him and no one we'd come across had any connection to him.

"Babe, what's got your brain ticking over?"

"I don't know, there's just something about him"

"His name is Colonel Lexter"

She returned the photo to the shelf and then headed for the only other door exiting the room, the one that led to the bedroom. Again it was very utilitarian, a thread bear carpet, double bed and a bedside cabinet. Within this room was a closet and bathroom. She opened the closet door and was smiling as she touched some of the clothes hanging there, I lent against the doorframe watching her.

"You wore these when you came to my flat. Dressed in these normal clothes, I hardly recognized you"

"I think I'll be in need of them again, we need to keep a very low profile Babe, everyone will know I'm somewhere close and will be looking for me to find you"

"We'll work it out"

What was she thinking? There was definitely something going on in that head of hers. A buzzer sounded telling me there was someone coming into the garage so I left Steph to go and meet them. Tank was already inside when I got there loaded down with boxes.

"This is just food, there's more in the car"

I helped bring in the bags with even more stuff inside; Ella had gone overboard with what she'd sent. As soon as everything was inside the apartment Tank turned and headed out.

"Catch you up in the morning Ranger"

And he was gone. I switched the fridge and freezer on and put the food away, then took one of the meals Ella had sent to go in to the microwave, and prepared a salad to go with it. Steph came up to me and stood with her front to my back, her arms around my waist.

"I like it here, there's something about it that feels safe, and it feels like you"

"I own the whole building, we could always convert the rest of it"

"Maybe"

"Babe what's wrong?"

"Not sure, after we eat I want to do some more work on the people we've found out about, I think we're missing something, or someone important that ties it all together"

Steph thoroughly enjoyed the vegetable lasagne Ella had sent; she even indulged in having some salad. We cleared the dishes and as she washed I dried them and put them away. While we were in cleaning mode we made sure the kitchen and lounge area were

free from dust and then Steph tackled the bedroom while I went into the bathroom. I turned when I noticed her stood next to the door.

"What's got you smiling?"

"The last argument I had with Morelli was about who should clean the bathroom, he said it was my job because I was a woman"

"I take it you thought differently"

"Too right I did, the thing is we don't argue about stuff like that do we? We just work together and get it done"

"That's why we're good together, come on I'm sure I've got films you might like and we need to relax"

As we were going into the lounge my phone emitted an alert status. "Emergency at the Burhan house"

"Come on Babe, we need to go out"

We each found a coat and hat and headed through the doors to the garage, I pulled off the white sheet covering a black BMW and was getting into the drivers side when I realized Steph was still outside staring at the car.

"Babe, you need to get in"

She shook her head and slid into the seat, fastening her seat belt. I knew she was trying to work out why this car was here. I'd actually decided to store the car here so that Steph would have somewhere to park at Rangeman, I liked this car, and once we'd found it after it was stolen from when Steph had it I moved it here. It didn't fit in with the image I was looking for when developing Rangeman. Eventually she couldn't stay quiet any longer; I knew the question before she asked it.

"Is this the car that I lost?"

"Yes Babe"

"You found it?"

I just looked at her.

"Why didn't you tell me you got it back, and why's it in this garage?"

"It wasn't important and I decided you needed a car parking space at Rangeman so I moved it here"

"But that was years ago"

"So?"

At last she was lost for words, which was probably good since we were pulling up behind Tank. He got out of his car and walked to my side of the car, with the window down he leaned in to talk so both of us could hear.

"The house was raided about half an hour ago, team watching said it looked like a professional job so they kept out of the way. They were in and out in under ten minutes, all's quiet in there now"

"Oh god Mia"

Steph was out of the car before either one of us realized it, she'd already reached the front door when I literally lifted her off her feet, she was crying and struggling like mad to get away from me.

"Babe, god dammit, will you calm down. Tank and I will go in with you, we don't know how safe it is in there"

She seemed to hear what I was saying and I could see how much it took for her to get control of herself. Gun in hand, I opened the door slowly then stood to the side, when I was greeted with silence I pushed it open, again silence so as Tank moved to the left I pulled Steph behind me and went to the right. Tank cleared the rooms on the left while I took the rooms on the right, the first was empty but the second had the body of a man laid on his back. He had a single bullet hole through the middle of his forehead.

"Oh god that's Omar"

Steph knelt down and checked for a pulse, I think even she knew it was too late, she stood and looked around the room the portrait above the fireplace holding her gaze.

"It's exactly the same as the room where I first met him, the couches and tables, even the drapes and that's the portrait I saw"

We needed to move, the police could arrive any minute now and I didn't want to have to answer any of their stupid questions.

"Babe, let's see if we can find any sign of Mia"

She turned, the spell broken and headed out of the door toward the stairs.

"Her suite of rooms was the first door on the left"

Tank took up his position as I opened the door, nothing, so again I pushed the door open. The room was totally empty, no furniture and nothing to suggest that there had been any. We cleared the other three rooms on this floor; all were the same, totally empty. I could tell Steph was anxious and worried but there was nothing in the house to even suggesting that anyone else had lived here.

"Tank get Santos to help you check out the place then call in an anonymous call to the police, I need to get Steph out here"

"Will do, I'll send the feed from the car to you when we get sorted"

I led Steph from the house; she kept looking back as if someone might appear at a window. Once in the car I took twice as long to reach the primary base making sure we weren't being followed. She hadn't said a word and walked inside in silence, I found her on the bed, her head hanging over the end and a pillow over her face. She was deep into her thinking mode; I removed the pillow and cupped her face, placing small kisses on her forehead, nose and finally her lips. My heart was breaking for the sorrow she was experiencing, I didn't really understand how close she had got to Mia, but did now as I looked into a face that was grief stricken.

"Babe we'll find her, I promise"

"But what if she's already dead"

"Then we'll find out who did it"

I pulled her up and turned her so that her head was now at the right end of the bed and crawled next to her pulling her to me as I laid on my back.

"Who do you think killed Omar?"

"I don't know Babe, but we'll find out"

I felt her relax against me; we'd had a hell of a long day, what with the parachute jump and then the revelations at the house she was bound to be exhausted. Even as I removed her clothes she didn't stir, I slipped a T-shirt of mine over her head and pulled her arms through, I loved that she wore my clothes. Undressed I slipped into bed beside her and wrapped an arm around her as she snuggled into my side, this was how it was meant to be, and it didn't matter where we were as long as we were together.