Rated: M for language. Not mine, not making any money.

Operation Thaw

--Chapter 29--

Early Monday morning, New York…

As promised, Shane and most of his team had arrived within twenty minutes. There was brief back slapping and hand shaking as some of the guys reunited but overall the tone was somber. There would be plenty of time for catching up after the mission was accomplished.

He watched Ranger as he barked orders into his cell phone, "Silvio, I don't care if you have to hack the Pentagon. I need those schematics yesterday." He didn't know Ranger well but he recognized the look. This was a man on the edge. Hoping to help keep Ranger in a military state of mind, he gave him a sharp salute, then stood at rest and asked, "Where do you need us?"

"Do you have anyone that knows urban tracking?"

"Yeah, Detroit and Monster are fresh from Iraq. Where do you want them?"

"Grab 'em and follow me."

Shane gave a sharp whistle followed by a warble sound and two men separated from the group. Then the four of them headed back into the frat house. Ranger took them down where the tunnel dropped off into the open cavern. Binkie and Hal had found several flood lights and they were now providing some illumination. Their tunnel ended three stories above the floor. Rebar embedded in the side of the wall served as a ladder from where they were down to the floor. The materials making the walls aged as they descended. Near where they were standing the walls were concrete, lower down they were cinder block and at the bottom small red bricks. Water gushed from a gated tunnel on the far side of the cavern through a series of narrowing conduits turning turbines as it went before disappearing through another gated tunnel. Six tunnels headed off in various directions from the main floor. Four more tunnels disappeared into the dark on what would be considered the second story. A narrow iron catwalk could be seen connecting the second story tunnels and a ladder, similar to a fire escape, was pulled up.

Following the rebar embedded in the wall down to the floor with his eyes he asked, "What makes you sure they came this way?"

"I don't know for sure, but her com went staticy and then she went off grid. We've been down here several times now and the same thing happens to our coms."

"We're going to need two-ways to communicate then. How do you want to do this?"

"Detroit, Monster, I want you guys to go down and see if you can find anything that gives us an idea of where they headed. There are ten tunnels down there all going in different directions. We don't have enough teams." Detroit and Monster each acknowledged the order with a brief nod and headed down the ladder.

When they were alone, Ranger ran his hand through his hair and said, "Thank you."

"I've heard a lot about the Mighty Manoso. It's an honor to help you," he said seriously. Then in an attempt to lighten the mood, "Besides, Dude, I've also heard a lot about the Bombshell Bounty Hunter. Who wouldn't want to be part of her adventures? Not only that, but maybe if I rescue her I'll get a second date."

Ranger growled. Shane laughed. Monster interrupted calling up, "Found something."


When she came to again she was lying on her side on something hard. She no longer felt sick but struggled to open her eyes as it was very bright. She wiggled her hands and found she wasn't tied up. She arched her back and started to stretch her legs when her knees bumped into a wall in front of her and her feet hit something solid. Struggling once again to open her eyes, she blinked against the bright light. She was in a box, albeit a larger box than a coffin, but a box just the same. She felt panic curl through her chest and her breaths became pants. She had a terrible phobia of small, cramped spaces ever since Stivia locked her in the cabinet. Some nights she kicked her covers off in her sleep because they felt too constricting. Closing her eyes, she made a concerted effort to channel her inner Ranger. Breathe Babe, she heard in her head, deep, slow breaths through your nose. After several minutes she felt she could open her eyes again. Her box was square about four feet by four feet and maybe two feet tall. She couldn't sit up and she couldn't stretch out. The box was painted bright white and several glass windows in the top. Bright fluorescent white lights shone through the glass. She tried to kick against the glass but it was thick and her feet were bare. She glanced down at her clothes hoping to find her panic button, but was disappointed to find she wore white scrubs.

Where the hell am I? How long have I been unconscious? Ranger must be panicked. Shit! He had no idea Liberty was part of this somehow. Music flooded her little box and she tried to look around. There was no way to see past the lights. A sweet smell started to fill the box and she felt woozy again. Laying her head down, she heard a soothing voice, "Just relax Belle; enjoy the music and the sound of my voice."


His heart leapt when Shane's man, Monster called, "Found something." He was so pissed that a simple pick up had gone so wrong. A quick tox report had come back reporting that Xycolomizal was found in one of the empty beer cups. It was a known paralytic and would cause difficulty breathing within about five minutes of ingestion and full paralysis within twenty. The drug was short lived however and the recipient would slowly and painfully regain control about an hour after administration. It seemed it had become a popular date rape drug. Preliminary information had also come back on Ryan Parker. He was an amateur weightlifter, so assuming Steph was drugged he would have had no trouble carrying her down the ladder. He must have had a partner because he couldn't have carried Steph and Anastasia. Silvio was running an in-depth report on him and would call as soon as he had more information.

The floor of the cavern was covered in a layer of sand and dirt. Detroit and Monster had been careful not to disturb any potential clues. Monster pointed out where three sets of footprints appeared, two large man sized, one small woman sized. He couldn't tell if they were caused by someone setting a person down or the person standing under their own power. Then the footsteps headed toward the west to where the ladder was for the second story and two tunnels escaped into the darkness behind it. Detroit was up on the catwalk trying to determine if they had gone that direction or through the lower tunnels.

Detroit came back down and said that two of the upper tunnels seemed like possibilities based on discarded items in the tunnels. A fresh cigarette butt in one and a shoe in the other, he held out a pink low top converse to Ranger. Taking it in his hand, he quietly stated, "Steph was wearing pink converse."

Detroit drawled, "Treads different." He meant the tread on the converse was different than the small shoe print they had found. Ranger turned the shoe over. Sure enough Steph's converse had a smooth felt bottom. The tread they found was deep and grooved like a running shoe. Monster returned from his brief scout feeling like one of his two tunnels could also be a possibility. He had come back from his search with Stephanie's ID and debit card. Ranger knew she had a habit of sticking them in the back pocket of her pants if she was going somewhere she wouldn't be able to take a purse.

"Shit," he said out loud. "They must have been worried we might track them and thought they'd throw us off. For all we know, they could have put little mementos for us to find in every tunnel." Detroit and Monster frowned at him. Shane spoke up, "No, Detroit and Monster are two of the best urban trackers around. If they've narrowed it from ten to three, they went down one of these tunnels."

Ranger glanced at the men and offered a silent apology, which they accepted. It was obvious the man was under stress. "Okay, then, let's get three guys in each team and start searching. Shane, will you stay here and act as post since these are your guys?"

Shane accepted and they headed back to the surface to form the teams.


Yes, I know. Another shorty, but a quick turn around! More soon. Thanks for reading. Please review if you're enjoying!