I was surprised I slept so well, usually if I'd had a bad experience it would haunt me for several weeks in my dreams. I knew I was alone but also that Ranger wasn't far away but the sight of Diesel laid in the bed next to me wasn't exactly what I was expecting. He turned and looked at me, a smile on his face and those eyes of his had their mischievous look to them.
"I missed this, waking up next to you"
"Diesel what are you doing here?"
"Came to check up on my favorite friend"
"Diesel, thank you for bringing me here"
"My pleasure, I'm just sorry I couldn't find you sooner"
"I thought you could find me?"
"Nah, I just know if I'm looking for someone in your area you're bound to come across them"
"Oh"
"That sounded crass didn't it?"
"Yep"
"I know when you're in real trouble, but not like Ranger does, he's really tuned into you. So when I got that feeling that you needed help I just headed to him knowing he wouldn't be far from finding you"
"What about Nathan?"
"Nat, younger step brother, yeah my father was playing around. He's a good kid and maybe looks up to his older brother"
"Yeah right"
"Seriously, but Steph maybe I'm to blame as well"
Was he serious, how could Diesel be to blame, my face must have shown my confusion because he quickly carried on talking.
"I may have mentioned to him how good you were at finding people and I think he used you to try and find that skip"
"So I heard right when he said he was on a special ops mission?"
"Yeah, he doesn't have the instincts or should I say the clarity to do what I do. He's good though and in the end he got to the right place at the right time to help you"
I knew Ranger was close and turned and smiled at him as he stood in the doorway.
"You ready to go home Babe?"
"Yeah, Diesel would you bring Nathan to see me, there are some things I want to ask him"
"It's a date honey"
Ranger had some clothes for me so I went into the bathroom to shower, it was a really strange room and I felt uncomfortable showering in such a large space, plus there were no mirrors so I dreaded to think what my hair looked like.
"You know Babe, you don't need the makeup, you look beautiful just as you are"
Maybe Diesel was right, that Ranger and I did have a unique understanding of each other, he always knew exactly what to say to make me feel better. I hadn't even ventured out of the bedroom and was surprised at the minimalistic décor of the rooms we were in. Once outside I felt as though I was in an up market hotel, how on earth was this a hospital? I stopped walking when we turned a corner unsure of where to go next and stood my ground when Ranger tried to guide me. No way was I going in a helicopter, it was too small, and it didn't look like it could get off the ground let alone stay up.
"Babe you've already been in it three times"
"Oh yeah, but I was unconscious"
He laughed and swept me off my feet and carried me over to where Bobby and Vince were waiting. I was literally lifted into the dam thing and straps were fitted over my shoulders. Bobby was sat up front with Vince and Ranger was sat next to me. As the noise of the engine increased I felt headphones being put over my ears, dulling out the noise, then as we seemed to tilt forward his mouth came over mine and I totally forgot that we were flying, lost in the sensations that were coursing through me. God how I loved this man, the feel of him, the taste of him and that he was all mine. When I came up for air I was moaning into his mouth but then became aware of the scene underneath us. I was amazed at how close to the ground we were, skimming over rooftops and trees, seeing the cars below on the road.
"It's amazing, apart from the noise, I could get to like this; look there's the outskirts of Trenton and the river and the bridge. Where are we going to land?"
The response I got was a kiss to the head and an arm around my shoulder, was landing worse than taking off.
"Look there's Rangeman, that's where we're landing"
I watched as the small building on Haywood got larger but wasn't confident that the roof would be big enough. I closed my eyes as the helicopter began its descent and didn't open them until Ranger removed the ear protectors.
"You did great Babe, but I think we're expected downstairs"
I really thought we'd got everyone and Nathan had enough evidence to lock them all away, so why did we have to go downstairs and meet with everyone. Ranger held my hand the whole way down to five and as I prepared to go into the conference room he pulled me past it and down the corridor to the one at the end, he virtually pushed me through the door. I couldn't believe what I saw in front of me, there were so many Merry Men and some of the Vet Men as well, along with Mary Lou, Connie and Lula and even Joe Juniak. A cheer went up and a shout of "Welcome home" and then I found myself being passed from person to person, being hugged and kissed. I had tears in my eyes as I looked around the room, Ella was there making sure everyone had a plate of food in their hands, as my eyes went round the room they locked onto Ranger, who was stood by the wall next to Tank, watching me. I immediately needed to be with him so walked over to him and locked my arms around his waist, his came automatically around my waist.
"You knew didn't you?"
"Yes, but I was sworn to secrecy"
I knew what I needed to do now so walked to the front of the room, dragging Ranger with me I found a metal spoon and an empty glass, tapping them together until a silence fell over the room and everyone was looking at me.
"I want to say a really big thank you to all of you for being here with me. I wouldn't have survived without you guys at Rangeman, my guys from New York and my friends, so thank you"
We spent a couple of hours chatting and laughing before people began to leave, Connie had asked me when I was coming into the office and I' responded with a shrug. I didn't know what I'd be doing now, I mean for once my bank account was healthy but how would I manage the skips now? I didn't think I really wanted to go out on the streets chasing them down on my own, I wouldn't have Nathan helping me and the more I thought about the more anxious I got. When everyone had left I helped Ella clear up and tidy the room then once on my own I just sat on the floor against a wall. Shit I felt so stupid, I'd never felt like this before but now, for some reason I was feeling scared. I didn't hear the door open but knew Ranger was slowly sinking to the floor in front of me. He pulled me from the wall and with his hands on my face touched his forehead to mine.
"Babe, what's wrong?"
How do you say that you're scared when there was nothing obvious to be scared of?
"Connie asked me when I was going back to the office"
"So tell me why you're in here on your own looking miserable"
"I don't know what to do?"
"Talk to me Babe, tell me how you're feeling about that?"
Talk, yeah I could talk, but talk about how I was feeling? That's something I'd never done before, no one had ever asked me.
"Scared"
"Babe, you've been through hell, been chased, kidnapped and badly injured let alone finding yourself in those woods on your own. You don't have to go back to bounty hunting, work here with me"
"But that's not who I am is it?"
"No, but until you feel more secure then that's an option. Babe you need to take things slow and let your body and mind come to terms with what's happened, maybe talk to someone who can help"
"What, you think I'm losing it?"
"No, but at the moment you're still running on adrenaline and on edge waiting in case something happens. We still have to finalize this case, there are still questions unanswered, so let's take each day as comes"
Okay I could see where he was coming from, hell I'd only just got back here today; tomorrow would always wait.
"You're right, I'm sorry"
"Don't be sorry for how you feel Querida, come on let's move out of here, I'm sure whoevers on monitor duty is getting an eye full"
I didn't think about the cameras, but now blushed as I realized how close I was to Ranger, sat on the floor. He pulled me up and we walked hand in hand out of the room and into the conference room that I had spent so much time in. I was amazed at the work that gone on to find me, the information they'd found.
"Why did you have to go to Washington?"
"Bernal was in with the Colonel I was under and thought he could use me on a special assignment"
"I think I remember hearing him rant at you about that"
"Wasn't going to happen, then when I thought about him being at that meeting I knew you were in danger and that maybe he had lured me out of the way"
He was now standing in front of the boards but I could tell from the way he was stood and the look of concern on his face that something was bothering him. How strange was that, in such a short time I felt closer to him and the nuances behind that blank face. I walked up behind him and circled my arms around his waist.
"What's worrying you?"
His arm came around my shoulder as he pulled me to his side.
"There are still some things that are bothering me"
"Talk to me"
As he pointed to the board he explained what was on his mind.
"Here, when you were in Philadelphia and then in Albany you sensed you were being watched, we know it wasn't Gary or his men, but it could have been Henri or one of his men. Then when you were in the hospital I got a phone call asking if I had you, no caller ID and Hector couldn't trace it. Then that woman posing as a nurse, how the hell did she know you were there? And who sent her?"
Yeah I could see why he was still worried, but surely there was a logical explanation, wasn't there?
"Who takes custody of Henri and Bernal?"
"I'm not sure, selling government secrets would be dealt with by Homeland security, and I think that's who Nathan will report to"
"Will Nathan be in on questioning him?"
"I don't know Babe, I just don't know, so we still need to be careful"
He was lost in thought as he continued to read through sections of the reports pinned to the wall, I tried reading some of it but my head just wasn't focused, I needed something more definitive to work with, maybe I could find something on that woman in the hospital, after all it was me who saw her and sussed her out.
"Who has the tapes from the hospital?"
"Santos, why what are you up to?"
"Well I'm the only one who really saw her so if I look at different areas in the hospital I may well be able to pick her out"
"Okay but don't work too long, it's almost time for dinner, I'll meet you on seven"
I found Lester in his office doing paperwork.
"What's up Beautiful?"
"Have you got those tapes from the hospital?"
"Yeah, but there was nothing on the corridor outside your room, camera was down"
"Can I have them all?"
"They're on the main server, but there are hours and hours of tape"
"No problem"
I left and found an empty room, I think maybe it was a small meeting room but at least there was a computer I could get into. I logged in and found the tapes on the main server; Lester was right there was hours of tapes to watch, so I needed to be clever about this. She may have been in disguise when I saw her, yeah a nurse's uniform but maybe she could have been wearing a wig. As I tried to remember the details about her the one thing that kept coming back to me were those dam pale brown-heeled shoes and the fact that she was wearing a lot of makeup. So when had I arrived at the hospital? a quick text to Lester gave me a time of 2100hrs. Subtracting twelve I worked it out to nine in the evening so that gave me a time to start watching from, though I'm sure it would be more like the morning before she arrived, and I'd have been in theatre for a time after that and then it took a while for me to come round, then I remembered that Ricky had said I'd been in the hospital for twelve hours. So with a time frame I started with the camera facing the front entrance and sat and watched as people came and went I'd decided that at start with I'd watch from six in the morning. When the time stamp on the tape read ten in the morning I stopped it and picked out a tape for one of the other entrances, the staff entrance. I nearly missed her coming in, hell she had tried to be so sneaky. It seemed that she'd managed to get in by joining a few other women who were coming into work. It was the shoes that attracted my attention because she'd done really well to avoid the cameras picking up her face. I used the other tapes to follow the route she took into the hospital, but none of them showed me her face, I was getting annoyed and frustrated at how wily she was. Eventually I lost sight of her, probably as she made her way up to the ward I was on and after that it was strange how all the tapes went suddenly blank. I laid my head down on the desk trying to think of what I could do next, I was so close yet no nearer to finding out what she looked like. I felt myself being lifted I didn't want to wake up but knew I needed to.
"I can walk"
"You're half asleep"
"Mmm, it's comfy being carried"
"Babe it took me thirty minutes to work out where you were hiding out"
"Sorry, I found her coming in but she seemed to know where the cameras were so I still don't have a face for her, just her shoes"
"Shoes"
"Yeah pale brown designer shoes"
"Only you Babe"
I felt the lift come to a stop and heard the doors open, I needed to really wake myself up now so I placed my arms around Rangers neck and pulled up kissing his cheek.
"Thank you"
He laughed as he placed me on my feet just inside the apartment then turned me round and guided me to the table. I smelt the food before I saw it and it made me realize just how hungry I was.
"Ella, she's a goddess"
Chicken satay and brown rice with mixed veg was just what I needed, it was spicey and creamy and all right healthy as well, but the chocolate mousse made up for that. As I licked my spoon clean Ranger was sat back with his coffee watching me.
"What?"
"So how far did you get?"
"I found her as she came in and as she walked around the hospital, but there's no facial shot"
"What about outside"
"Outside?"
"See if you can back track her to a car"
"You are a genius"
I picked up my plates and kissed him on my way past, once I'd stacked them in the dishwasher I headed for the office.
"Babe, what are doing?"
"Finding that dam woman"
He laughed but came and lifted me out of the chair sitting in it himself with me on his knee and proceeded to pull up the tapes that covered the car park.
"What time did she walk through the door?"
"7.27"
"Okay lets pick her up as she goes in, show me which one is her"
I pointed out the woman, especially the shoes, and then watched as Ranger whizzed back and forth between the tapes back tracking her until we watched as she got out of a bright red BMW 7 saloon.
"Can you get the plates?"
"Got them, and there she is"
I watched as the face of the woman came into view, not exactly what I expected. Yeah she'd worn a wig when I saw her but even with wavy blond hair and too much makeup on her face was the same. I'd thought that she was older than me and now I could see that I was right. I turned to Ranger as he sat looking at the face.
"I don't know her, do you?"
"No, but there's something about her"
I wrote down the plate detail and pulled up a search to find out who owned the car, the answer soon came back but it wasn't what I was expecting.
"Ranger why is it not giving an owner for the car?"
"Government"
"Shit so how do we find out who she is?"
"I'm not sure, but you know I don't believe in coincidences, I got the call from the Colonel right after that anonymous call and just before that woman arrived at the hospital"
"But if it was him who called you'd have recognized his voice wouldn't you?"
"Yes, but maybe he had someone else call instead"
"How would they know you were at the hospital?"
"Probably through tracking my phone"
"You've got that look, you know who it was don't you?"
"His second in command, Lieutenant Colonel Higgs. He must be aware of what the Colonel's up to"
"Then put a search in on him, or can I do it?"
He smiled and gestured to the keyboard so I put Higgs into the search tapping my fingers on the desk waiting for the information to come through. As soon as it was there I started to quickly read through the information and seeing he had a wife quickly changed the search to her.
"That's her, she was the woman at the hospital. Ranger what did you say that Colonels name was?"
"Wilbert, Colonel Dudley Wilbert. Why?"
"She's his baby sister, so now we know the Colonel's involved as well"
