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Chapter 21

IIIII

There was a buzz going around RangeMan. Plans were coming together. Some of the details still needed to be worked out, but for now there were some ground rules that the men needed to follow. They had all been instructed that only the core team could be visible as trucks left and then returned to the garage.

Everyone else needed to ride in the back seat where the dark tinting would keep them hidden. They only wanted Calder Maddux to get acquainted with a small number of the rangemen. There were several elements of the plan that depended on the other men having anonymity to carry them out.

Mind games were only one of the weapons in their arsenal. As the resident scientist, and munitions expert, Gene was preparing some explosive surprises for Maddux. His expertise was so rarely needed, that he was excited to have the excuse to play with his own toys.

While Gene was tucked away in his 'laboratory', Other rangemen were busy perfecting their own skills. Down in the shooting range, Roy Brandt was concentrating on the target that was as far away as he could make it, simulating a 600 meter shot. It may have not been ideal, he would need an outdoor range for the best results, but this would do for now. Roy was an expert, he was known as the best sniper in the Rangers for years. This practice session was not to improve his skills, rather it was just an excuse to play with his weapon of choice.

Roy lined up his scope. The long powerful fingers on his left hand curled around his weapon, holding it steady. He placed his right index finger on the trigger. Taking a deep breath and letting it blow out slowly, he squeezed the trigger. The sharp crack of the shot quickly faded in a dull echo. He didn't have to reel the target back in to see that he had made a perfect head shot. He did not miss his mark. Roy never missed.

The men were so close that they could taste it. They all wanted their chance at this guy. But business had to go on, so they kept to the routines. Trucks came and went all day long. Lester and Bobby alternated with Tank and Cal and Hector to sit in the front seats to keep the appearances going. They were kept busy as they had to keep up with the scheduled patrols and surveillance.

Ranger stayed in the building for the most part, only leaving when he had appointments that could not be rescheduled. His office was visited regularly by Stephanie. A hug offered the chance to relax and get lost in each other, if even for just a few moments. It was enough to get them through the hectic schedules.

Although her strength had not been completely built back up, Stephanie had been able to convince Ranger and Bobby that her help was needed right now. Searches and skip traces were getting behind with the added burden of playing the game with Calder Maddux. She argued that she was recovered enough that she could sit at a desk and help with the pile of work.

"Rodriguez is not slowing down, no matter how much other stuff is going on," she explained with a smile. "Please let me help."

It was Ranger's turn to smile. She had used the 'please' ploy with him. She knew he couldn't turn her down, any more than she could deny him when he used that word. Under the circumstances, she was right. They needed the help, and she was more than capable of doing it. Before he knew it, she had stationed herself in one of the cubicles and started the searches running.

It wasn't until later that first day that Ranger noticed that Stephanie had also trained Bobbie to help in the workload. 'Of course', he thought, he should have expected that. This was second nature for Bobbie, the searches would be child's play for someone with her experience. But she gracefully offered to help and she followed Stephanie's instructions to a tee. Between the two of them, the piles of folders were dwindling down and they were almost caught up with the work by the end of the day. They made an unbeatable team.

III

Following instincts was not exactly second nature for most military men. They were trained to follow orders. It was as simple as that, and for Hal, that was the experience that he knew. Of course, everyone always told stories about moments of intuition, of gut feelings that led to amazing rescues and other magnificent moments in military history. The stories were great to hear, very inspiring, but being the good soldier that he was, he knew that he would never be expected to have any of those miraculous moments. Save those for the fearless leaders.

That attitude had been fine for him. Had served him well for a long time. But something was different today. He felt a nervousness in his stomach, unlike anything he'd experienced before. His mind was full of ideas, thoughts that he could not control. And the urge, the desire to do something completely out of character for him finally took over.

"Sorry Chet," he said as he turned on the next corner and drove off in a totally different direction. He knew that the man next to him would keep his opinions to himself, for a while. He would wait to see what Hal was up to, and then he would hear what he had to say about it. So without another word they headed to the other part of town. His partner had noticed that Hal was not quite himself this morning. His forehead wrinkled in thought. The tight grip he had on the steering wheel that was turning his knuckles white. The way he kept looking around and checking the rearview mirror. He knew something was up, and he fully expected Hal to explain his actions soon.

Pulling up to the curb down the street from Floyd Walton's house, Hal suddenly felt stupid. He knew that the team had taken his earlier recommendation that surveillance on the Walton properties would not be an effective way to find information. Now here he was.

What if this feeling in his gut was just an upset stomach from breakfast this morning? Abandoning their assignment was a little drastic for having a hunch. What if he was wrong? He would be having words with everyone starting with Chet and going all the way up to Tank, if he was lucky. The possibility that Ranger could yell at him too, or worse take him to the mats for disregarding orders loomed in front of him. He started to sweat.

They sat for a long moment. Nothing happened. Chet looked over at Hal. But Hal stared straight ahead. That gut feeling was still with him. He was not going to pretend that he understood exactly what it was trying to tell him. All he could say was that it felt important to listen.

In the middle of the dialog going on inside his head, Hal's attention was directed to the side door of Floyd's house. There was Floyd himself with a box of supplies in his arms. They watched as the small man made several trips from his house to his car. From the looks of it, he was either moving, or getting stuff together to get one of his properties ready for someone else to move into. Bingo! He said silently. Let's see where Floyd is going to take us.

Being a rangeman required that one learns some basic skills. These skills become second nature and can be done without having to think about them. There was now a satisfied expression being shared by Chet and Hal. From a safe distance they watched as Floyd took a random route to his destination. He was attempting to assure himself that no one was following him. They knew this technique, and if it had been anyone else trying to trail him he may have lost them a couple of times. As it was, they arrived to see him park his car outside of the property that was number 12 on Hal's list.

Floyd was expecting someone to be coming soon. What were the chances that it could be Itai? With his preparations Floyd had narrowed it down for them to the one property that would be worth watching. Now Chet turned to Hal and nodded. It was time to inform Tank what they had found. No one was going to believe where they were right now.

III

Down the hall Bobby cracked a smile when he heard the distinct grunt and thud of someone big getting thrown down to the mat. It was noisy in the gym this morning. In addition to the sparring going on in the center of the room, several of the men were busy with the free weights and Stephanie was on the treadmill. He had expected to find her here, but Bobby was surprised to see who was walking next to her. Bobbie was actually walking at twice the rate as Stephanie, but her long strides made it seem as if she just kept pace with her. He had to smile; she was getting a great workout and was still able to chat with Stephanie while she was at it. It looked like his patients were both doing very well.

Bobby checked their pulse readouts on the machines, and sat back to observe. He joined in their conversation the way he usually did with Stephanie. Before long they were laughing at each other's stories. Although Bobbie did seem to be totally engaged in their banter, her eyes kept wandering to the sparring mat. As soon as Bobby saw that it was Vince over there, he understood why. It also explained the smile she would sometimes get, that seemed completely unrelated to whatever they had been talking about.

"Who-a!" she yelled suddenly.

Bobbie startled everyone with her call. Vince looked up from the mats. He had just taken Cal down hard and he grinned at her obvious show of support for his efforts. Most of the men knew of her background in the army. But it still surprised them to hear that shout in a feminine voice here at RangeMan. Stephanie started laughing, she had never seen all the guys speechless like they seemed to be now. Bobbie looked around and shrugged. But when her eyes found Vince again, all she could do was let her smile spread from ear to ear.

III

Another night, another sunset. Thin clouds stretched across the sky softened the intensity of the colors. It was nothing like the one he had seen last night. This one Vince was watching from the front seat of a RangeMan SUV. He far preferred being with Bobbie.

As the sun receded, shadows started growing and darkening. One by one the lights came on in the houses surrounding Walton's property. Vince felt like he had been here forever, when in truth it had only been close to the four hours that he and Roy had been assigned to do the surveillance. Nothing had happened. The lights never went on. No movement anywhere up or down this street.

In spite of himself, Vince watched the side mirror for signs that the next team was arriving. It only made the time seem to drag on more slowly so he once again redirected his gaze to the empty house across the street. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the movement of Roy's hand. It seemed that he was scoping out the best vantage point to get a good shot. The corners of his mouth turned up in amusement. Roy was the best sniper he had ever known. And at this moment, Vince could tell that even just the thought of shooting someone was making him happy.

His cell phone beeped twice and he looked down at it before checking out the rear view mirror. The signal let him know the team he was waiting for was here, and he could see the SUV pull up behind him without their lights on. Vince gave the answering beeps and pulled away from the curb allowing the other vehicle to move into place before he turned on his headlights and drove down the street. He hoped that they had more luck than he and Roy had.

"Let's roll," Roy said. These were the first words he had spoken since the surveillance began and Vince nodded in agreement. The sooner he could get back to Bobbie the better.

III

Halfway back to Trenton he wished that he could have burned down the condo. It was always so satisfying to see the flames lapping at the sides of the buildings, destroying everything in their way. This had not been the right time for it, so he had simply driven away and never looked back.

His thoughts then focused on his destination. He narrowed his eyes, a furrow in his brow over the fact that he was reduced to relying on Floyd Walton for his next hide out. He was not used to working with anyone, he was a one man show and he preferred it that way. But when Floyd told him that he could find a location within a mile of the RangeMan building, he knew he had to give in on this one and let him arrange everything for him.

If only Itai was so cooperative, he thought. He had not yet received confirmation from him that his latest order was complete. That would be his first job in the morning, but tonight he just wanted to sneak into town and get his surveillance set up again. With any luck tomorrow he would get his revenge. It would finally be the day that the bounty hunter dies.

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