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Chapter 25

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Leaving Smith and Ron to talk with Joe and his friend Barnes, Stephanie went back into the conference room. She had seen Rodriguez come back inside a few minutes after everyone rushed out to the street. Stephanie was pretty sure that he knew something the rest of them didn't, and she was determined to find out what it was.

She braced both arms on the table and leaned forward, "Who did you talk to?" she asked.

Rodriguez looked up at her, the surprise over her question immediately disappeared with his blank look. He did not say anything. 'Oh no you don't' she thought, he was not going to keep her in the dark, not this far into the whole thing.

"What did Ranger tell you?" she asked. Point blank. This time he could not disguise his shock. And Stephanie knew her instincts had been right. He had talked to Ranger. There were some new plans and that is what Rodriguez was doing in here, arranging their next move.

"Steph,"" he started to say, but she held up her hand.

"Just tell me what I can do to help," she said. "If I am right, we don't have much time to get everything ready."

All he could do was nod in the affirmative. She was right. They had about an hour to get people into place, and there were a ton of details to attend to. He could use some help.

He looked into her eyes, very serious now.

"So, you remember the hacking lesson that Hector accidentally gave you?" he asked. She couldn't help but smile at his inquiry. It would have been impossible to forget, she had been using several of the techniques, that she had seen that day, on a regular basis ever since. And he knew it! For some reason, as much as he wanted her to be able to use every skill she could in her searches, he seemed reluctant to show her how to do the illegal things that were sometimes required to get the job done.

Letting Hector be the one to show her had somehow eased his conscience about the whole matter. Stephanie always thought that it had been interesting to see how by the book he could get, especially with what they were doing. But she knew that someone had to, and she respected him for it. And then she went ahead and did whatever she had to do to get the job done.

"Of course," was her reply, and it earned a small smile from him. He pulled out the chair next to him and she sat down. Pushing his laptop over to sit in front of her, he handed her the list he had been working on. And he was immediately back into business mode.

"We need to know the current whereabouts of these people," he said. "And we need them asap."

Stephanie nodded and turned her attention to the list. Terry Jones, General Kent Daegel,

Brigadier General Scott Adams.

Searches were already going for each of these men. Stephanie looked at the screen. These were searches that you did to get complete information on someone. But what they needed now was very specific info.

Her forehead wrinkled, and she narrowed her eyes as she thought hard about how she could find these men. Suddenly it came to her. She sat straight in her chair, and pulled over the phone. She had seen that Jones worked in Washington DC. As assistant to a general, he had to be on call twenty-four hours a day. What she knew about DC is that it was never closed. Someone, somewhere was working and knew where Jones was. She started with the number listed on Jones profile sheet.

The office number she dialed was immediately directed to the answering service. Stephanie smiled, this is what she had expected. "General Kinkaid's office," the voice on the phone said. Stephanie paid close attention the that voice. The woman speaking was young and she sounded tired, probably getting close to the end of her graveyard shift. She also sounded like she was from Jersey. So Stephanie channeled her best Jersey girl and asked to speak to general Kinkaid.

"I'm sorry, the general is not in the office," came the automatic response. "May I take a message?"

Stephanie took an audible breath. "He is not in his office," she repeated. "He is not anywhere, does anyone know where the guy is?" she asked with the kind of exasperation that secretaries everywhere knew so well. She had been asked to the impossible, and as a good secretary she was doing her best. There was a universal understanding between secretaries and the people they talked to. Stephanie was counting on that, and it worked.

"Right?" the girl said, in a knowing tone. And then she became the most helpful person she could be. "I could connect you to his assistant if that would help," she said. They both knew that it was not standard procedure for her to do that, but it was early, and no office staff would be available, it would have been a waste of time for her to transfer the call to the office so that all she could do was leave a message.

"Could you do that?" Stephanie asked innocently. "That would be great, uh…."

"Shirley," the girl supplied. Again the comradery between office workers coming through.

"That would be great Shirley," Stephanie said. "Thanks!"

"No problem," Shirley said. "Hold the line, and good luck."

Stephanie started the Universal Analytics application and tracked the call. It pulled up a map on her screen. First it was the general vicinity of DC, then she watched as it narrowed down the location. When it started ringing, Stephanie was surprised to see that the call was connecting somewhere in the pentagon. She would have thought that the off hours number for the generals assistant would be his home phone, but apparently it had been forwarded to his cell phone.

Booya! She thought. Now she could track his GPS, and they would know exactly where he was as long as he had the phone with him. One down, two to go.

THE REUNION WITH Beyza and her family had been the most amazing thing. Just knowing that they were alright would have been enough, but to be able to spend a few minutes with them had been more that she had ever hoped.

The image of their home, destroyed by terrorists, had been disturbing her more than she had realized. The relief to see that they had been removed, long before that van incident had happened, helped her see how just much she had been worried about them. Her fears about Beyza being a target, were a reality, but Beyza had connections and she was smart enough to know when to leave.

Beyza explained that they had family in Cypress. They were going to live in a small fishing community that was, at the moment, free from terrorist activity. The general had made arrangements to get them over there as secretly as possible. Now DJ could put her mind at ease with their news and she knew that they were going to be okay.

It was a good solution for most of the family, but deep inside DJ knew that Beyza would not be staying there for long. She still had a fight to win, and there was no doubt in her mind that she would find a way to do her part. While that thought worried her, she was proud of Beyza. It took a lot to stand up for what you believe is right.

Besides, from what she had told her, Beyza had a special friend helping her in that fight. Showing her the ring she is now wearing, Beyza told her that she was sozlu with a wonderful man named Galif Burakgazi.

Both sets of parents had approved of their engagement, and she couldn't be happier. Beyza was absolutely glowing as she spoke of him. She was a woman in love, and DJ could not help but think that she knew just how she felt.

Her eyes had met with Aaron's across the room, and she knew that she had also found the man who she could love and spend the rest of her life with. It was easy to share in the joy that Beyza was feeling. DJ knew she would always remember this day as a bubble of happiness in their crazy and dangerous lives. The visit with Beyza was short, DJ still had a job to do. It was hard to say goodbye again, so this time they only said 'gorusmek uzere'. See you later.

Once they were back in the rec room, the whole team waited for the details of what DJ now knew was to be her final mission. A smile radiated from her eyes as she looked up at Aaron. She reached out and slipped her hand inside of his. He immediately tightened his grasp on hers and returned her smile. Nothing had been the same since he met her. And he knew that his life had changed forever because she was going to be a big part of it from now on. He did not know how, but he did know that it was the only thing that he wanted. And they would make it happen. Somehow.

It wasn't long before the blissful thoughts, that they were both having, had to be put aside. Ranger and Kinkaid stood together were ready to fill the team in with the details of the last stage of this mission.

"All operations will be commencing at 1500 hours," Kinkaid said. Everyone in the room looked down at their watches and synchronized the time. "Tank and Hal will stay with Adams here. He is on the base, but intel tells us that he is planning on leaving soon. That will work in our favor. It will be best to have him off of the premises when this all goes down."

Tank nodded and glanced at Hal who tipped his head. They both looked at the general. 'Understood' was communicated with the look in their eyes.

Kinkaid would be accompanying Ranger and Lester. DJ would be flying them over in the chopper, Aaron in the co-pilot seat this time. They were going back over to Nicosia to the GlobalGas headquarters.

Daegel was being detained, until they got there, by the group of inventors that Ron had contacted. Kinkaid had to laugh. The old guy might actually be happy to see him, after spending an hour with these high strung geniuses and their demands that he increase security there so that none of the very important projects that they are working on could be stolen away like the drones had been. He actually did laugh at the irony of the situation.

Ranger took over the discussion. With pride in his voice, he told the team how Stephanie had found Jones in DC. She had pinpointed his location and has been following his moves. Her intel on him was incredibly detailed. Ranger knew that she had probably hacked into his personal computer or his iPad to get it. And he couldn't be prouder.

"Everything happens for a reason," she often said, and today, Ranger couldn't agree more. He knew that it was so much more than a coincidence that Roger King and Martin Beam had been sent to DC yesterday, to measure and evaluate a property for a new account. They were still there and would have no problem moving into place to intercept Jones at the appointed time.

While tracking Jones's phone, and from the poking around that she had been doing in his computer, Stephanie had been able to zero in on the location of a fourth person of interest. Ranger had been more than a bit surprised to find out that she knew all about Oersted already. The mercenary, that Jones and Daegel had hired, had been holed up in the building across the street from RangeMan all this time. Daegel would have a lot to answer for if he survived the next couple of hours.

The last part of the plan had been a bonus. Rodriguez and the team at home were working with Morelli and his contacts in Trenton. They were going to bring in the man who had been a legend, in espionage circles, for years. It would be credited to the TPD, and would be a huge coup for the department. RangeMan was happy to be of assistance in this matter, and needed no further recognition. In fact, they insisted that they not be mentioned at all. It would be better for business they said.

Ranger looked at his watch once again, before sweeping his eyes over the team.

"Let's move."

HER PHONE WAS STILL in her hand. Stephanie was in a bit of a daze, and a smile was firmly attached to her lips. She had just spoken with Ranger. Rodriguez had needed her to coordinate a few details with him. Closing her eyes, she pictured him, remembering the last time she had seen him. His arms had enveloped her, she had felt his strength and even the desperation of having to leave her when they had finally just come together. She felt her arms around him too, it had been the hardest thing she had ever done to let him go. She now knew that he was halfway around the world. So far away that she didn't even want to think about it. But he was safe and she had never been so happy to hear his voice.

With the plans now in place, at least she knew that he was going to be headed back home very soon. It was no longer a guessing game, she could count the hours until they would be together again. She felt light somehow, and invincible, like she could do anything.

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FOR THE FIRST time, Binky let his face show some expression. Closing the door after the nurse left, he shot Turner a raised eyebrow look that held a bit of surprise and a lot of 'I told you so'.

"See?" he said. Francis Turner smiled and shrugged. He sat up straighter in the bed, taking advantage of the stack of pillows she had just fluffed for him. At his age, he did not expect feminine attention anymore, and he had been ignoring all the signs. It had been Binky who had been pointing some of them out for him. Still he dismissed them for a long time, but it was hard to deny that he was getting an awful lot of attention from one particular nurse.

Nurse Landon had been in to check on him. Again. She had come in for one thing or another so often, they were both wondering if she had any other patients to attend to. The answer to that question was a resounding 'no'.

Her shift had actually ended shortly after his panic attack when he woke up. She had been so worried about him, she had stayed on. Without saying anything about it, no one noticed that it was time for her to go. There was just something about this patient, and she had been unwilling to leave him.

At first it was her concern, and yes curiosity. Turner's lab reports had come back showing traces of a drug that she had never heard of before. A combination of chemicals that intrigued her. When she started medical school, she had wanted to be a pharmacist. Back then, it was a field dominated by men, and she had been discouraged from following her dream. She became a nurse instead and she had enjoyed it, but she had never lost her interest in pharmaceuticals. For twentyfive years she had loved her job, and she found that her continued interest in drugs, above that which was required, helped her understand what her patients were going through. She believed it made her better at her job.

It had been no wonder that her patient had fainted, the traces of gamma-hydroxybutyrate in his system would have given him a psychomotor impairment effect similar to passing out. It also contributed to his headaches and nausea. But it was the other elements that made her curious. She told herself that her interest in Turner was purely academic, and that she wanted to stay to observe him, his reactions to the drugs.

After a few hours, however, she could no longer fool herself, or him for that matter. Her intentions were now completely personal. She did not want to leave his side before she got to know him better.

With some good natured prodding from Binky, every time that she left the room, Turner started to talk to her. He found that Nurse Landon was not only very book smart, she had a big heart. And she had a sense of humor that delighted him.

Anna Landon found Francis Turner to be intelligent and kind. Through their bits of conversation, she knew that he loved to fish and he had never been married. Something that they both had in common, although she was slow to admit it to him.

By the time the doctor came in to release him, Francis had decided that he wanted to see Anna again. He had absolutely no idea if he could. He was staying at RangeMan to keep him safe from terrorist. Who would invite someone into that kind of a situation. But there was nothing he wanted more, that to spend time with her.

He was not going to say anything. It would be his misery to live alone, he could not endanger her. But it made him extraordinarily sad to think that he would not see her again. Binky watched the interaction, and he knew that there was something he could do for these two people who seemed reluctant to pursue this connection that they had.

After the doctor left, he cleared his throat and asked Nurse Landon if she had had any home visit experience. She was taken by surprise by this question, but answered that she had worked with the home health network for a number of years. Then, much to Turner's delight, Binky asked her if she would consider taking some time off from the hospital to continue to care for Turner.

Before they left, information was exchanged and both Francis Turner and Anna Landon knew that they would be seeing each other very soon.

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WAITING DOES STRANGE things to people. Oersted had been playing waiting games all night. It didn't matter if it was called it cat and mouse, or hide and seek, they were still games, and they still made him wait. It was starting to get to him.

He took a break from watching the men in the street, and looked around at his current hiding place. It was someones office. In another hour, this building was going to be filling up with people coming to work. He had avoided the night cleaning crew. He had kept ahead of the police department and the fire department. He had been in hiding for nearly two days now. Something had to give.

Oersted frequently reminded himself that he was a professional, that this was part of the job, and he could see it through. But he knew that his patience was wearing thin, and he was going to have to make a move, and soon.

His last call from Jones did not help. The man was starting to get desperate, and a bit paranoid. He was sure that someone was watching him. Oersted shook his head. Jones was a lightweight, and had he had no patience for him anymore either.

Walking back over to the window, Oersted noticed that things had changed. Half of the people who had been there before were gone. A bit of hope began to rise in his chest. It was almost time, he told himself. He would be out of here and would never come back.

His things had been packed for hours, now he slung the strap of his duffle bag over his shoulder and was at the ready, when he heard the noise. A single footfall, or an accidental knock against a wall. Whatever it was, he knew that someone was near.

Crouching in a defensive position, he drew his gun from the holster and held it in one hand, grabbing his gun from his back, he held it in the other. Now he had both guns pointed at the door. He held his breath, if anyone opened that door, it would be the last thing they did.

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