Disclaimer: All the characters you recognize from the Stephanie Plum books belong to Janet Evanovich. The Inferna Angelus' on the other hand are solely mine as is the tiny terror tiger that rules them.

Chapter 25 – In The Eye Of The Tiger

Ranger and Tank entered the conference room at 0900 hours feeling annoyed since Pain and his team were missing and holding up the scheduled meeting. In the last forty-eight hours, he, Tank and Lester had done in-depth searches of every employee in Trenton and found nothing out of the ordinary. The news that there most probably was a mole inside Rangeman had made his blood boil. Loyalty was one the highest valued virtues for him; the thought that one of his own men was betraying his trust – there was no description for the extent of pain the leech was in for once they found him.

Ranger looked at the empty chairs of the Inferna Angelus'. He was informed that Terror and the rest of the team had arrived shortly after midnight; he wondered why not one of them was here. He had learned to accept T's tardiness during her time at Rangeman. She and her alarm clock battled a long standing feud each morning; but the rest of the team had always been punctual. Just when he was about to send someone after them, Lester entered the room.

"The guys will be down in a minute," he nodded toward the empty seats to Ranger's right.

When he saw that Ranger obviously wanted him to continue he added, "I met them when I entered the lobby after my morning run. They worked the whole night in one of the conference rooms on the first floor and just left 30 minutes ago to shower."

Ranger raised his eyebrow and looked at Tank who just shrugged. Shortly after that; Rage, Vengeance, Agony, and Revenge filed into the room; each one of them munching on some breakfast. Furor brought up the rear carrying a tray holding three bagels with cream cheese, a bowl of cut fruits and three giant mugs of coffee misto. Carefully he arranged everything at Pain and Terror's seats before taking his own bagel and coffee and sitting down. A couple minutes later Pain came through the door clad in a customized suit and dress-shirt looking very 'corporate'. "Terror needs a few more minutes." He sat down in his chair, closed his eyes and started to sip his coffee.

"I heard you had a long night," Ranger commented.

Pain just grunted in response. He sat his coffee mug down and started to rub his temples.

"You ok?" Furor asked from the right.

Pain shook his head no right before he bolted out of the room. When V immediately stood up and followed him, Ranger got a bad feeling. Pain hadn't been himself this past week; he'd often been pale and frequently rubbed his temples. Yesterday he flew off the handle when they didn't find anything regarding the mole. Such an emotional reaction was not typical for the silent, thoughtful man.

Fifteen minutes later the door opened and the Rangemen collectively gasped. Terror stood in the door and the sight rocked them. Gone was the gal in low-riding cargoes, colorful Flip-flops and tight shirts. In her place stood an impressive business woman in a customized suit that screamed money. It consisted of a short skirt and a tight-fitting blazer that accentuated her sensuous curves and gave a peek of some dark red lace; her feet adorned the most delicate black four inch heels. Her still dampish hair was carefully pinned up in a French braid. She had applied a light coat of make-up and her finger nails were stunningly manicured, sporting a dark red nail polish that matched the lace under her blazer. She stopped, took a look around the room for effect and then dramatically made her way over to Ranger emanating an aura that demanded respect. Taking the pen and notebook that were lying in front of him she wrote:

'1: I'm sorry for the delay.

2: The IA have a change in the chain of command. I need to step out with my team for a few minutes to inform them.'

Ranger looked at her and nodded.

Guys, meet me outside, now. Immediately the remaining IAs rose and followed her out. Upon their re-entry five minutes later Ranger noticed their tense faces and the worry etched into them. Once more Terror grabbed his notebook and scribbled:

'I made some decisions on our way back from Cedar Creek. I know we should have discussed this prior to our meeting; but circumstances beyond our control have taken priority. I need to have control of this situation since it's my life that hangs in the balance. You'll just have to go with the flow and can behead me later.'

Once more Ranger nodded although quickly becoming annoyed with all this secrecy from the IA. His men were curiously eying them, wondering what was being discussed between Terror and Ranger that was causing their boss to clench his jaw so tightly. Terror took her seat and stared at the breakfast in front of her for a moment before she looked over at Revenge who stood up and, followed by curious eyes, moved to the opposite wall behind the Rangemen to translate for her.

"Gentlemen; effective immediately I am in command over the Inferna Angelus with Furor as my second in command. Pain is on his way to Washington where he will be treated for a brain tumor that seems to have entered the last stage. V will stay with him for the time being. We are all brokenhearted about this knowing Pain will most probably not return. He's sorry that he didn't have the chance to say good-bye in person."

Ranger and his men all looked at her in shocked silence.

"Our most recent recon trip to Washington brought some disturbing findings that I want to share with everyone. Before we start with that there are some things you need to know about me. The secret behind my talent is the fact that I can read minds. I won't answer any questions regarding the how, just be assured that it works. I know what each one of you is thinking right now, I know what questions you want to ask, what you conceal, I even know what you dream at night. Every single thought that passes your mind is mine. So never, never ever, try to fuck with me 'cause I will know." T made a pause for drama. "The other handy thing is that I can push my own thoughts into your mind. It's how I communicate with my team. Again, no questions will be answered, just be assured it works. Those thoughts can also be memories; that means I can remember my torture and push the experienced pain right into your mind. You got that so far?"

The Rangemen were in a stupor. Did they just hear that right? And what was with that aggressive demeanor of their otherwise sweet boss.

"My name is Terror because of those abilities; because when I'm finished with my targets, terror is the only feeling left in them. Never forget that. So far I've thought of you as my friends but there is a mole in this building who is a threat to me and one of mine. If I find him, he will wish to die. I truly hope that it is none of you."

A gasp went around the room.

"What do you mean there is a mole?" Ram could merely control his rage.

"I'll come to that in a bit, Ram." T had just detected something that she had hoped would happen. Across from her Ice had stood up and made his way to the door; apparently for a potty break. "Ice, where are you going?"

"Just a quick break, boss. Too much coffee."

"Liar!" And with a yell Ice fell to the floor. Scream after scream came from him while he was writhing on the floor.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Sad, his partner, bolted out of his chair.

Sit down Sad, NOW! he suddenly heard a voice in his head. Doubling over with shock, he stared at Terror. There's a reason I'm doing this. Sit down!

Sad sat down but watched her with open contempt.

Terror made her way to where Ice was lying on the floor. The screams had ebbed and he was no longer twisting. Motioning for Rage to help her, he grabbed the neck of Ice's shirt and hauled him into a standing position; pinning him against the wall behind him.

Rev, translate my thoughts. T seated herself on the top of the conference table, about five yards away from Ice and Rage. Are you DuPuits' mole? Rev's voice was ice cold as he spoke for her.

The Rangemen were shell-shocked; Sad had lost all color from his face. Ice leaned against the wall, exhausted, and just stared at her. Suddenly a pain ripped through his upper body as if someone had put a knife in his sternum and carved straight down to his pubic bone. He cried in pain, blinding flashes of white stealing his vision. Some of the Rangemen started to look queasy. Suddenly, Ice felt as though the knife would be twisted to extend the damage. Rage didn't try to hold him upright. Instead he watched Ice buckle onto the floor, screaming in pain. After several minutes of torture his body stilled and Rage heaved him up again.

Are you DuPuits' mole? They heard Rev ask again.

No answer.

Ice doubled over and again fell to the floor, yelling at the feeling of red-hot iron burning deep into the skin of his lower abdomen. Terror kept the feeling up, pushing for more than a minute before she stopped. Ice was sobbing as Rage pinned him to the wall once again.

Are you DuPuits' mole?

"Yes," he nodded. "Please stop," he whimpered.

Ranger, please put him into one of your holding cells. I want to continue later.

Ranger jumped at the voice in his head and looked at T in wonder. "Ram, Cal, get that scum out of my sight." The men looked at him and with a minimal nod he confirmed that they should bring him down to the holding cells. When they lugged Ice out of the conference room, his head connected with the door jamb and nobody looked sorry about it.

Terror had gone back to Ranger and took his pen and notebook again.

'Sad, I'm very sorry that your partner, whom you trusted with your life, turned out to be a traitor. I know how that feels. I hope you can forgive me for being the cause of that hurt.' She ripped the page out of the notebook and went over to Sad. He was pale and looked at her apprehensively. When she gave him the paper and immediately turned, he grabbed her hand and stopped her. After reading the three sentences, he turned to her and pulled her into a hug.

I'm sorry that I didn't realize what was going on, he thought.

T pulled back surprised. That's OK, Sad. I didn't realize it either.

Hey, that mind reading thing comes in handy, huh?

Sometimes, she smiled at him. T couldn't believe that at least Sad adapted so easily to the new situation.

Returning to her place she asked "Anyone else?", cocked her head and looked every single Rangemen straight in the eyes while pushing a feeling of deadness and impendence in their minds. No one else showed any signs of stress or needed a 'potty break' to call his contractor.

"Good," T sat down into her seat. "I'm glad that Ice seemed to be the only one. Nevertheless, we'll need to interview the rest of the employees, too, Ranger." She took a bite from her bagel and sipped at her coffee while the Rangemen looked at her like she had grown two heads. The questions were coming quickly and in abundance from their minds; but no one dared to voice them.

"I know that you have a lot of questions, literally," T signed after a few minutes, "but this is neither the place nor the time to ask them." Her whole demeanor had changed back to her normally laid-back ways. "There is just one thing I ask, no, I demand from you. Nobody outside this room will learn about this," she tapped her head. "There are only seven people on Earth who know about my mind's capabilities. Four are sitting here in this room, two are on their way to DC and the last is someone I deeply trust. Telling you about it, is the biggest sign of trust I can give to you. Please prove yourself worth it."

Silence followed T's request.

"You can really read minds?" Tank asked after a couple minutes.

"Yes – to both, the asked and unasked question."

"Shit!"

"You got that right, Tank … again to both." T smiled at him.

Tank started to squirm in his seat. This whole situation was highly unsettling.

"You are one hell of a weapon," Ranger was in awe about the possibilities someone like T would offer to his business.

"First and foremost I am a human being, Ranger. I'd be thankful if you could stop thinking of me as an asset that you need to obtain in order to use me for your business' advantage." Ranger's eyes widened and he had the decency to blush.

"I don't know how I feel about this, Beautiful."

"I know Lester and believe me when I say if I could turn it off, I'd do it in a heartbeat. As handy as it comes sometimes, it's a hell to live with."

"Why?" Lester asked, still dazed.

"Currently my mind's operating range covers a radius of three miles. I can hear each and every fucking mind within this area. You have no idea how exhausting that is."

"Three miles? Does that mean you know what each person in this building is doing right now?" That idea alone was overwhelming for Binkie.

"Yes."

"Tell us."

"No. That's a rule I've put on myself. Hearing people's thoughts is something very private. I never talk about it as long as what I hear doesn't mean a threat to someone. Listen, I know you have tons of questions; but we have to move on. There are some important things to discuss." T finished the remains of her bagel, took a last sip of coffee and stood back up again. Agony, would you please fire up the laptop?

"OK, what we found out is…" Terror detailed their findings in DC. "I apologize to you, Zip, Zero, Knock and Scotch for not involving you earlier; but after I knew there was a mole, I had to first find a way to eliminate you as possible sources."

"No sweat, I'm fine with it," said Zero, "but what is with Bobby and Rodríguez? Why aren't they here?"

"I'll come to that later. What I want to discuss first is how we proceed from here. We now know what the treason is about but we still don't know the full extent of who is behind it. Plus we know that 'they' plan to betray us so we all get killed on our way back. Does anyone want to back out? No hard feelings."

T's offer was met with silence.

"I hoped you would stay with me," she smiled at them thankfully. "Ok, so here is what we will do. I want to keep up our compound training so we will slim your gym time. The reason is that starting tomorrow we will meet here each day for two hours before the lunch break. You will learn to work with your minds. Given what we will be facing in Colombia, it is necessary that I can easily communicate with you without needing anyone for translations. Speed and accuracy are our only chance for a safe comeback. After lunch we meet at the compound where you will learn to implement the prior learned exercises into action. At least every other day, more often if possible, we'll do our city training - again to engage and hone our new source of communication style into our training. These next few weeks will be hard and stressful; but I need to get you ready as quickly as possible. In about three weeks there will be a meeting between DuPuits and that other man on the phone. It's critical to the mission that we know who he is before we leave. That's the only way I can anticipate what we will face in other words what his next steps may be. He's the one after my life, he's the one who has plotted against us. I want him eliminated as a threat. The moment we have that info, we launch ourselves into last minute preparations. If there is still static within our communication system, we will increase our efforts and address those issues. Otherwise, we will be ready to deploy at a moments notice. Nobody can know that we've left for Colombia.

Ranger, Tank, we need to develop a plan on how to deflect anyone too curious from our absence. The only chance we have is that we go in without being detected so executioners aren't sent in after us. Once in Colombia we do our jobs; but we will destroy the formula. If they'll need a culprit for that afterward, I will take the blame. Agony, Cal, Ace, Bull – you are our EODs. Start planning what explosives you want to take with you; remember we need an implosion that immediately destroys the drug. I expect there to be hostages, probably disabled by the drug, so we have to prepare for that. We don't know how many there will be and I don't care. I want each and every one out there rescued; nobody, I mean nobody, is left behind. Ranger, I want to bring in one or two more medics. They are men I unconditionally trust; both IAs and former Pararescue Jumpers. Plus we will have to organize transportation in and out without the government's knowledge. I hope you can help with that, too. Regarding the treason, we will collect as much evidence as we can before we leave. If that isn't enough, we have to continue after we are back. One thing has to be clear to everyone; once we destroy the formula we are automatically considered targets. We are talking a monetary worth of … what … five/six hundred million in capital destroyed. Whoever they are, they will be beyond pissed at us. The only chance for us to survive this mess is to annihilate this grouping." T took a deep breath. "Any questions?"

"Will you marry me, Beautiful? You are so fucking hot when you get all bossy with us," Lester waggled his eyebrows at her.

T couldn't help but laugh. "I'll think about it after we are back, Les. Now, seriously, do you have any questions so far?"

"How exactly did you find out about DuPuits? I'm just fascinated. Plus I wonder how you plan to learn about the meeting in three weeks." Ram asked.

"When we were doing our late night surveillance, Agony, Rev and I were parked near the Washington Monument. I did a scan of the Pentagon two miles away when my radar sounded an all bells alert. After that, it was just a question of patience. I scanned floor after floor until I found the source of the alarm. DuPuits was on the phone. I just had to listen in," T shrugged.

"You don't like to talk about it, do you?" Ram dug deeper.

"No Ram, I don't. If I had the choice to be normal, I'd take it in a heartbeat. But fate had other plans for me so I make the best out of a fucked up situation. Regarding the meeting in three weeks, I guess I'll end up doing some good old-fashioned surveillance. Assuming that the three weeks were exact, plus/minus two days, I will go to DC and find me a nice, soft spot to sit down and listen in to DuPuits' phone calls and meetings until Mr. X reports back stateside and they agree on a rendezvous."

"What about your assassin? You can't be in the open or on the compound as long as he's on the prowl out there," Ranger looked at her with his blank face.

"Let me ask you something, Ranger. Are these window panes bullet proofed?"

Ranger nodded.

"Including the 7.62 mm ammunition from an M40 sniper rifle?"

Ranger narrowed his eyes and nodded.

"Well, then," T nodded, went over to the floor to ceiling window panes and opened the blinds. Standing in front of the windows she gazed down the street and within seconds the faint sound of a shot could be heard followed seconds later by an ear-deafening noise as the round impacted the window pane right at the height of Terror's head. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath, then another. She had him. Three-hundred-fifty yards straight ahead on the top of another building laid her assassin, cursing about the bullet proofed glass. Now that she knew his mind's 'flavor' he couldn't get away from her. Turning back to the Rangemen she looked at their shocked faces.

"Please meet Mr. Assassin," she signed dryly. "By this shot he gave himself away. Every mind has its own flavor. Now that I know his flavor he can't get away from me and by the end of this day he will be dead." T said with a calmness that baffled the Rangemen. "I know you aren't used to this side of me; but this is the way I am. I like to laugh, to banter and to have fun. I like to feel at peace with everybody; but if I or someone I consider as mine gets threatened, I eliminate the threat. That's what the street taught me. I'd do the same for anyone of you anytime of the day 'cause I consider you as mine, too."

The Rangemen stared at her, then at the bullet lodged into the window pane.

"Fuck. You knew he would shoot and you just stood there making yourself a target? Are you fucking insane?" Vince glared at her.

She knew his feelings for her were honorable and that he was just worried about his friend so she answered calmly, "That's right. Because Ranger said the glass would hold the ammunition and I trust him to tell me the truth. Otherwise, I would never have pulled that stunt."

"You will not go alone after him. A team will accompany you," Ranger said coolly more as a demand than a request.

"Correct," T replied shrewdly. "MY team will accompany me." T could feel Ranger bristle inside at her response.

"T, where are Bobby and Rodríguez? I have a feeling they are involved in this. You said at the beginning there was a mole threatening you and one of yours. It's no secret how close you and Rodríguez are; we all saw it. Now he and Bobby have vanished. I want to know what's going on with them." Willow spoke up more out of concern than disrespect. Zero nodded his affirmation.

T eyed Ranger. Now it would get ugly. "Bobby actually has vanished. I can't tell you where he is because honestly, I don't know. I can tell you that he left of his own free will." Immediately a murmur rose in the room. The guys all liked Bobby.

"And what about Rodríguez? How is he mixed up with this?"

T closed her eyes and dragged in a deep breath. She knew she was doing the right thing, but that didn't lessen the pain. Hopefully Rubén would forgive her. "Rodríguez is at a safe place."

Ranger's head shot up and he tried to gauge what T was about to reveal as a murmur went around the table and the men leaned forward awaiting further information. "Why's that?" one of them asked.

"What do you know about the DEVGRU operator, La Muerte?" Terror looked at the Rangemen surrounding her.

The moment the word 'Muerte' left Revenge's lips, Ranger was out of his chair and pinning Terror with an ice cold stare.

"Any information concerning La Muerte is classified and none of the men in attendance besides me, Tank, Lester and Ram has the necessary clearance – including you." He stated in a deadly voice that would make any man piss his pants but Terror just looked at him calmly holding his cold stare and signed.

"I guess it's a good thing then that I don't give a flying fuck about that." A gasp went through the room when Revenge translated for her. Holding his eyes she could see Ranger's jaw working as his stare became even more menacing. They already had a few fights but this one would be bad, probably legendary.

"If you say one more word about this matter, I will detain you and call the suits to pick you up. You obviously don't know what you are doing. This isn't some coffee klatch with your girlfriends. You are about to trumpet information of the highest security level. Imprisonment will be the least of your concern." Ranger threatened her.

Without losing eye contact, Terror raised and straightened to her full height. Even with her 4 inch heels she still missed Ranger's height by three inch; but that didn't diminish the dominance radiating from her as she leveled an ice-cold stare at him. The room was deathly silent as the men held their breath. A staring contest with Ranger always ended badly for his opponent. Ram was the first who became aware of the pulsing menace. Glancing to his right and left he saw that the other men started to feel it, too. They were looking around uneasily. It felt like shock waves were invisibly pulsing through the room, having their origin in the small woman across from them. She and Ranger were still staring at each other as the temperature in the room seemed to drop perceptibly several degrees. Ram suddenly felt chilly. Then without being able to explain why, he was overcome by such fear and despair that it made him want to crawl into bed and hide like a kid. What the fuck was happening here? Was it just him or did everybody feel darkness descending over their minds?

And then it happened, the one thing that had never happened before and that would forever be marked in the calendar. Ranger shivered and for a split second averted his gaze giving Terror all the dominance she needed.

"I. Know. Exactly. What. I. Am. Doing." she signed, accentuating each word. "When we accepted this mission we already knew that something was off, that we most probably signed our death certificates. We did it nonetheless. We knew you would say yes and we wanted to ensure that you and your men had the best possible chance for return. Look at my men, Ranger," she commanded. "Look at Revenge over there, at Furor, Rage and Agony to my right. Each one of them has committed himself to saving your asses. I personally will lead them into our sure death, if necessary, to see to it that you and your men come home to your friends and families. So I'd say the least you could do is to give me the necessary room to do my job as best as I can."

The Rangemen were speechless. No one had ever dared to talk to Ranger that way. Ranger just stared at Terror, jaw working, his eyes relentless.

With a much calmer demeanor T continued, "The only reason he's still alive is his memory loss and the fact that his death would create uncomfortable questions – their words not mine. This is the proof for what you suspected all along. After all these years, they are still after him. They must be stopped. They fucked with him, now they are fucking with us. All that secrecy was meant to protect him; but in the face of this new evidence, the best protection for him is to have as many people as possible looking out for him, knowing about him." T locked eyes with him. "Ranger, he deserves to be acknowledged. Your men deserve to know the full extent of what they are facing; whom they are facing. To beat the odds is one thing; but to be set up by a group that is killing at will, for who knows how many years, is something else entirely."

Ranger held Terror's piercing glance a minute longer before he lowered his head, closed his eyes and let out a long breath. Sitting down he motioned for T to continue. The Rangemen were shocked. Somehow they knew that from today on their lives would never be quite the same again. Today they had learned that mind-reading does exist. That a person they knew, respected and very much liked could not just read minds; but also inflict torturous pain with her abilities. That this person who they all thought was fun to work and hang out with had a dark side none of them had expected. Lastly, that this person was not just an amazing fighter, an expert in her chosen venues; but a leader who put everyone else's well-being ahead of her own no matter the price.

Terror sat down, ate a bit of the cut fruits and sipped at her now cold coffee to give the men the chance to process what had just happened. After a couple more minutes she stood again, looked first at Ranger and his men then at Revenge and continued.

"Ok, let's go back to the starting point. What do you know about the DEVGRU operator La Muerte?"

Sad looked first at his team mates then at Terror. "La Muerte – The Death. He is a legend. Was a SEAL before he joined DEVGRU; worked mostly alone. His moves and tactics are brilliant; they are trained in all military branches. He died on a mission gone bad about six years ago." He listed.

"Wrong." T signed and all the Rangemen besides Ranger, Tank, Lester, Woody and Ram looked at her in confusion. "La Muerte is alive and you've all gotten to know him in person. Rodríguez is La Muerte."

"What?" Several of the men exclaimed, looking at T then turning around to Revenge as if he could possibly have made an error in his translation.

"When talking about Rodríguez, we have to recognize he's comprised of two personas. Rodríguez himself and La Muerte, who was spawn with the sole purpose of serving as a black ops agent. Five years and seven months ago La Muerte's last mission went FUBAR, ending with him being captured and tortured for more than eight months. In retrospect, there are countless reasons to believe that he was purposely set up by the group we are pursuing. Their objective was his elimination during the mission leaving no evidence of the operative they created; but he magically survived. Due to the extent of his injuries and trauma, there was no hope that Rodríguez could ever return into service. Thanks to Ranger's commitment, it was determined that La Muerte would stay dead so that Rodríguez could have a chance for a more or less peaceful life once he recovered." The Rangemen couldn't believe what they were hearing. The man most of them despised because of his behavior, was in truth someone they all admired, even idolized.

"Does that mean we're talking split personalities?" Zero asked.

"No, the psychologists back then refrained from that after assessing him thoroughly." Lester spoke up for the first time. "The essential feature of Dissociative Identity Disorder is the presence of two or more distinct identities or personality states that recurrently take control of behavior with an associated memory loss that goes beyond normal forgetfulness. The latter has never been the case which led the psychologists to the aforesaid opinion. Regarding the routine switch between personalities, until recently Muerte hadn't appeared once since being held captive. That fight between Rodríguez and Ranger about two months ago was the first time we saw Muerte in years. However, since then he has re-emerged regularly and while Rodríguez was in full control of Muerte before his captivity, Muerte has now become a life of his own and can't be controlled by anyone but Terror. So under this new light it could be that the psychologists revise their former evaluation. Fact is: the training Rodríguez got by the government went far beyond any normal special forces, even Delta Force or DEVGRU training. They pushed him to the point where everything evil in him separated itself from the good and the persona of La Muerta came into being. Rodríguez's case is an exception and – so far - had nothing to do with DID."

"I first met Rodríguez/Muerte months before said last mission." Terror continued. "He was training with us to become a part of our IA team. He was and is still one hell of a fighter, as some of you have witnessed, worth the name he carried. Above all that though, Rodríguez is a joy to have around. He was and remains to this day a laid-back, fun-loving, loyal to the bone friend. Grief, who was the team's former leader, Pain, Furor and the rest of the team back then were happy to have him in their midst. Then I saw him several times while he was recuperating and what you see today, what he managed to accomplish recovery-wise, is more than any of the doctors ever thought possible. But – in no way is he nor will he ever be able to withstand the mental stress of being a part of a governmental mission. This comes as no surprise to the small group of those who have the clearance to access his record. Also, it's no secret that he has no memories whatsoever about his Muerte persona or his service time in general. I have reason to believe that someone in our secret grouping, either by chance or deliberately, made contact with him and by that triggered a flashback that made Muerte resurface. The fact, that all this takes place in a time scheme surrounding the decision to take part in this mission, has us," she motioned to her team, "convinced, that there is a link between both events."

The Rangemen were speechless.

Suddenly Terror froze. Ever so slowly she turned to Ranger. "That's it, Ranger!" She looked at the man to her left. "Somehow this grouping is built up of the most influential members from each of the Justice Bureaus. They are the eyes and ears at the FBI, CIA, DEA, NSA, SAD and who knows where else. When FBI and DEA decided to contract Rangeman, those fuckers knew they were in trouble. Rubén is the best tactician there is in the Armed Forces. Sad just said so; they are training his moves at all military branches. How long has Ice been at Rangeman?"

"He came shortly after Rodríguez came back here," Ranger said with a deadly voice. He didn't like where T were going with this and instinctively he knew she was right.

"Then they knew that he was doing take-down plans for Rangeman; that he was still in the game, even if it was in a much smaller capacity. They couldn't risk him becoming part of the mission team. With him as our tactician, their chances to conduct their scheme would collapse. As said, they can't assassinate Rodríguez without attracting attention so they have to find another way to immobilize him." T started to pace. "They know something, a trigger of sort that will reach Rodríguez's subconsciousness, throw him for a loop, or so they hope. They have to risk it. They do whatever it is; but it is too much for Rodríguez to cope with so they unknowingly activate Muerte. Though probably Ice told them at least about the fight and they got the picture. Knowing about Rodríguez's fragility, they hope to knock him off enough so he isn't capable of helping plan this mission. Or," T had stopped mid-step and mused, "if he's theoretically capable, to damage his credibility to a point where you wouldn't trust his input anymore." By now T was all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with excitement about her epiphany. "As said, his strategical abilities are legendary. With him out of the picture it would be so much easier to take us down." T rambled on, pacing again, her hands a blur of movement. "Yes, that's it. I'm sure. These fuckers deliberately put him into this position because they couldn't kill him. Oh, they will pay for this. I will make them pay for this.

Did you get all that? Six years ago some fuckers in the government decided that Rodríguez had to die; but he survived. Since he was traumatized beyond recognition and didn't remember anything at all, they decided to let him stay alive for the time being. Now, by pure chance, we get contracted for a mission that would complicate their plans and will cost them hundreds of millions of dollars. They are between a rock and a hard place. They don't want to risk killing Muerte; but need to 'eliminate' him as potential tactician. Plus, they have to make sure that we don't succeed so their little scheme isn't discovered. After Muerte is disabled, I am their biggest threat. They don't know about my abilities but they know I'm fucking good at my job. So they send a killer after me. With me out of the picture, too, they deem it easy to get the formula and kill you; but not with me, I'll throw a monkey wrench in their plans."

After popping some fruits in her mouth and collecting her thoughts, T continued calmer, "If the reason they aren't killing him is the attention his death would bring with it, then the best way to protect him is to let as many people as possible know he is alive and kicking. On the other hand though, that would be a sure way to attract his unaccounted enemies and Rubén is no longer capable of protecting himself in a manner that would be necessary to face them. He's in a very fragile frame of mind at the moment and since I consider him part of my responsibility, I will remove him from as many situations as possible that could trigger a flashback to the hell he survived. I'm telling you all this, because I hope that it will change your demeanor towards him. As said to Ranger before, he deserves to be acknowledged. And who knows, perhaps you could even find something likeable in him. But likeable or not, I hope that in future you will respect him for what he had achieved before that last mission altered his whole life and that you will look out for him."

"Just to be sure I understand this right: So it was Muerte who attacked first Ranger and then Bobby, not Rodríguez?" Zero asked.

"That is correct." Every head turned to Ranger in surprise. They had all but forgotten about him. "The day he attacked me was the first time that we – Tank, Lester, Bobby, Woody, Cal, Ram and I – have seen Muerte since before his last mission. It was a deep shock for all of us; but most of all for Rodríguez himself since he has no memories of that part of his past." Ranger paused, wondering how personal he wanted this to get. After a minute he continued. "After he was found and brought to Ramstein AFB it took his mind more than seven months to find its way out of the abyss it was sent into by the trauma he endured. Seven months in which he showed no reaction to whomever, except for Bobby. Even those responses however, were limited to eye movement." And in a rare show of emotion Ranger added. "Rodríguez is one of my best friends even if he is no longer able to reciprocate this type of friendship. You didn't see him back then. I am proud beyond words of what he has achieved, of how he has picked himself up and is braving his demons day after day. Now that the cat is out of the bag, I ask you to show him a bit more respect than you have in the past. I know he's making interaction with him difficult; but as Sad so adequately summarized he's a legend, the role model for many soldiers out there and his brilliant procedures are the cornerstones of today's special force's training. We can all be proud to have him with us." He finished quietly.

"HOOAH" Tank, Lester, Woody, Cal and Ram barked in unison.