"You wanna run that by me a again ?" I thundered at Ram. My knees were in his chest and I had my weapon pressed painfully in to his forehead with my finger on the trigger.
"Tank we a have a situation in here , hurry man !" I heard Lester call from behind me.
I heard Bobby and Tank enter my office at the same time.
"What is the situation other than the state of this office?" Bobby said.
"Why is the furniture like this , and what is with the huge hole in the wall, where is Ranger ?" , Tank questioned.
"Down there, behind the desk" Santos informed Tank and Bobby.
I could feel the men walked around the toppled desk as they stared at the two of us.
"What hell is going here Santos , how did you let this happen , you should have called me sooner!" Tank barked.
"Ranger did this as soon as the words left his mouth. In like two minutes flat, he had Ram by the neck, threw him into the wall , picked the man up by his shirt, and delivered several blows to his head and face. Then he demanded Ram get up , when he did , Ranger took a running leap and tackled him, knocking both Ram and the desk to the floor. Next thing I know, he is in the mans chest with a gun to his head.", Lester explained.
"What words did he say ?" Tank ask.
"Sorry boss , I messed up Stephanie is gone I lost her", Santos repeated.
"Awe hell no , he is on his own , let Ranger kill the moron !" Bobby yelled.
"Brown don't you dare leave this damn room ! " , Tank ordered.
"Tank he's got the safety off , gun cocked and finger in the trigger, if we try to pull him off, he is going to fire a shot off in to Rams head", Santos said.
"I don't see a problem with that" , Bobby announced.
"Ranger you're wasting time here , killing Ram is not going to find Bomber , stop this now." Tank reasoned
"Need answers , he won't talk", I hissed.
"He can't talk , the man is barley conscious", Santos stated.
"Come on Ranger, how do think she is going to feel when she finds out you did this?" Tank ask.
I thought about my Babe , he was right, she would not like this. After taking my finger off the trigger I engaged the safety pin on my gun and placed it back in the holster.
Tank and Santos took hold of my shoulders and hauled me to my feet and off of Ram.
"Zip , Manny, get in here !" , Tank ordered.
The two men came running in and Tank had them take Ram to the infirmary. Bobby righted a chair that I had turned over and sat down.
"What the hell do you think you are doing Brown?" Tank demanded to know.
"Nothing ,that is exactly what I am going to do for that man, nothing" Bobby replied calmly.
I shot Brown a glare and he got to his feet and on his way.
Turning to Lester I said "report".
"We went to the cop shop to pick up a receipt, Ram went in with her. After sitting in the SUV for more than hour , I went in to find out what the problem was. I found Ram standing in front of the ladies room and he said Stephanie had been in there forever. When I went entered the ladies room , her purse, phone and shoe were scattered around the rest room and the window was opened, the other shoe was on the ground in front of the window", Santos reported.
"I talked to the TPD , they said it's too soon to report her as a missing person. There is no surveillance cameras near the restroom or the rear of the police station. Constanza and Big dog are worried and said they would see would they could do." Santos added.
"Call a code red, have every Range man available come in and call in the contract workers in also ", I told Tank. We will all meet in conference room A in an hour. Tank and Lester left my office.
I had been in IED explosion , was captured, held hostage and tortured in third world countries , and shot at countless times. I can't remember ever feeling the fear that I was experiencing at this moment. The idea of my Babe being in this man's possession had a surge of complicated emotions coursing though my veins. My mood was damn near manic and I was struggling to maintain normal communication in the same manner most people do. All I wanted to do was bark orders and give curt one word answers. I did not have to struggle to keep alert , I was hyper focused and all my senses were thrown into over drive. What was going to happen if my Babe did not come home , NO , that was not going to happen! That man was not going to get the chance to put her on a plane and bend her mind and emotions to his will, but what if he did. Worst yet what if the feisty Jersey girl was able to resist that psychotic man ? He had already beaten her when she refused to go with him , what would he do if she did not fall madly in love with him and into his bed? Either way she was incredibly vulnerable to Kuzma. A furry of anger shot though my body just as Manny ran into my office unannounced. I delivered a quick sharp left hook to his face and the man dropped like a ton bricks.
"Knock next time !" I snarled to his unconscious body.
"Get yourself together Manoso , you have work to do ! " Tank snapped from the door way.
I picked up the phone and dialed Hector then instructed him to see if he could locate anymore properties Kuzma may be holding under an alias and to review the contents of his hard drive for any information that could help us track down Kuzma. Thirty minutes later Hector was in my office, he had found a dozen more properties under a hidden corporation Kuzma owned. Hector was also chasing a lead on private unlisted cell phone number and the towers it was pinging off of.
I took the information Hector had given me and along with the file that Stephanie had made. I organized the properties as well as places he was known to frequent. After organizing the information I made copies for each team. Then headed up to the conference room. Tank had already started the meeting without me so all I had to do was give out the assignments. Every team had a list of addresses to search as well as people to speak with.
"Rodriguez , Hector ,Vince ,Sybo , and Raphael , you will stay here and be command central", I explained. All of you will man the phones , monitor and leads that come in. Each of you will be responsible for managing communication and networking through out the various teams", I instructed.
Hector was posted up in the corner of the conference room , he stepped forward to speak.
"Not now Hector , if we need tech , I give you call" I told him
" Boss , I think I can help you, based on the information I received and the algorithms of the triangulation from some of the last text messages , you could be going in the wrong direction with …"
"Shut up Hector!" I barked We got this cover.
"You need to listen to me boss" , he insisted.
"No you need to learn to follow the chain of command" I growled.
"Your ego and stubbornness are not doing her any favors", Hector said in a low threatening voice as he stepped in close to me.
"Back up , don't make me kick your ass in front of all of Range man ! " I warned Hector.
"Don't make me knock you on your ass in front of all these men", Hector countered.
I yoked Hector up by the front of his shirt and before I knew what was happening , he had me face down on the conference table.
"That is enough fun and games you two" Tank bellowed.
Hector released me and let out a sickening laugh "yeah , we just playin" he said but the look in his eyes was lethal.
The men looked at me then to Tank, I could tell they were wondering I was loosing control.
"You have your assignments get going !" I ordered.
They all jumped to attention. The men all raced to the parking garage with their partners and piled in to their vehicles to go look for my Babe.
I walked over to the turbo where Tank was waiting. My phone buzzed, the caller ID said it was Lester.
"Yo" , I answered.
"Change of plans, Bobby and me have added a new partner to our team. Hector has got a good lead Ranger, and we are going see how it plays out", Lester informed me.
"Santos I am going kick your ass, then Bobby's and when I am though I am …"
"Look here you arrogant prick, we are not about to leave any stone unturned just because"…..
"Lester if you value your job and your life"….
"I don't care" Santos interrupted, write me up for insubordination , give me latrine duty, shoot me , whatever. Hector has got good Intel and it is worth checking out ."
Then he hung up on me.