Chapter 32

SPOV

As I woke the next morning, I realized it was the internal phone that was making a noise, not something I was used to hearing, normally if someone wanted to speak with Ranger, they would call his mobile. I sensed him move to answer it and then listened to his side of the conversation, come on I was curious.

"Here?"

"Now?"

"Do you know who?"

"Shit, I'll be there in ten"

I watched as he quickly moved from the bed and started to get dressed. Something was wrong and that was worrying me.

"Ranger what is it?"

"We have company"

As I started to get up Ranger looked over at me.

"Babe it might be better if you stayed up here"

"Why?"

"I want to keep you out of this particular fight"

I watched as he got dressed not really knowing what to say, I had no idea who had turned up other than Ranger was annoyed. As he went through to the kitchen I went into the bathroom, then seeing him about to leave the apartment I quickly got dressed. For some reason I couldn't get the image of Ranger's face out of my mind. The look on his face was resigned as if something awful was about to happen and he had no control over it. I moved into him and pushed him up against the door, I was desperate and needed to feel him, my hands pulled his head to me as I pushed further into him, the urgency in his response was frantic and as our tongues touched and fought for control we both became more demanding until he took me by the shoulders to hold me away from him.

"Ranger you're frightening me"

"I don't want to do that, but I have absolutely no idea what's about to happen. Whatever the outcome, stay safe"

Then he was gone leaving me stood looking at the door. I jumped at the sound of my phone but knowing it was probably Emci I knew I had to answer it. As I brought it to my ear, she said only a few words before the line went dead.

"You have to stay with him"

It was as if she'd woken me up, I grabbed my bag and the phone, made sure I was dressed in a sweater over my Rangeman T-shirt, had my cat boots on and then flew out of the door and headed down the stairs to five. As I came out at five it was quiet, not because there was no one there. The corridor was lined with both Rangemen and men in uniform, I had no idea who they were or what they wanted.

I heard voices from the conference room and went to go through the door surprised when a soldier blocked my way. I don't think he expected me to ignore his movement and to be honest I was too quick for him to physically stop me from going through the door. I stopped once inside taking in the scene. The soldier from outside was now stood behind me but didn't make any attempt to make me come out of the room. There were five men in uniform four looked to be wearing khaki uniforms of combat trousers and shirts, berets on their heads and rifles across their bodies, but it was the fifth one that drew my attention. The unmistakable figure of Matthew Gannon dressed in the attire of someone in charge, pressed green trousers and tailored jacket with a pale beige shirt. He'd even had his hair cut to go with the uniform. I hadn't a clue what rank he held and held his eyes as he stared at me.

"Miss Plum, what a pleasant surprise"

"Well Mr Gannon seeing as you don't belong here, I'd say it was an unpleasant surprise"

"Major"

"Maybe to your army friends but not to me"

I saw the flash of anger cross his eyes, it was almost as if I had a secret and he was afraid of what I knew. That was definitely something to work on but at the moment I needed to know why he was here and what he intended to do.

"I'm glad you came to me. It saves me the problem of having to find you"

He turned away from me to address one of the soldiers.

"Escort the prisoners downstairs. I'll bring Miss Plum myself"

I walked forward and stopped and sounding braver than I felt formulated how I was going speak to him. Confident and self-assured, yeah that felt right.

"What are the charges Mr Gannon?"

He turned obviously not liking what I'd asked.

"Espionage"

How the hell could he say we'd committed espionage? Or was he just using that as an excuse to move us somewhere? Was it his intention all the time to take me as well? Shit, maybe I should have stayed upstairs after all. As the soldiers made to move, I caught sight of Ranger between two of them, the bastards had cuffed his wrists behind his back, but he still stood tall and proud.

"Babe, don't push him"

"Oh, but that's what I intend to do. If you're arresting us, then you'd better be pretty dam sure of your facts. You were chasing after me Mr Gannon you don't need Ranger as well"

I saw his smirk as he nodded to one of the soldiers and watched as that soldier approached me. When he removed some cuffs from his belt I looked down at the cuffs and back up into his face.

"Err Major do we need to cuff her?"

"No, but remove her watch and then just get them in the trucks"

I held my arm out as the soldier unfastened my watch and placed it on the table, we both turned as the door opened and at that moment Ash walked in with a soldier behind him, I turned and walked to him kissing his cheek.

"Are you okay?"

"Seems I'm going on a road trip"

As he took my hand, I felt a small shape being pressed into it, shit he didn't know I was going with them. I had to pass this off to one of the other men, preferably Hector. Okay now to bluff my way from here. So, I walked to the door and started to walk down the corridor, Rangemen were lining the corridor on each side so I made a point of stopping and kissing the ones I knew well.

"Beautiful what's going on, why have you got a guard with you?"

"I'm going with them"

"But"

I moved down the line having spied Hector and wrapped my arms around his waist, I just hoped he realized I was slipping something into his back pocket and not trying to get a feel like Grandma would.

"Ten cuidado"

I nodded as I moved down the line but then felt someone taking hold of my elbow making me walk faster and guiding me into the elevator. For some reason Gannon was with me as well as the soldier, interesting, why was he so keen to keep me in his sights? Once out in front of the building I saw the row of vehicles parked up and felt Gannon lead me to the front car, a black saloon with tinted windows. I stopped before getting in and watched as Ranger and Ash were led to the cars that were behind us, making sure they were okay. I felt my bag being taken from me and watched as a soldier handed it to Tank. He just stood there looking stoic, I suppose to give me confidence so as I turned, I shouted back at him "See you soon" and got into the car.

When Gannon sat next to me, I moved as far away from him as possible and stared out of the window, I didn't like the man and wanted him to know just how much I despised him. I watched with interest where we were going, heading south out of Trenton and onto the I 95, we travelled far in excess of the speed limits and at tolls seemed to just drive through them. We went past Baltimore as though we were heading to Washington and then turned off the main route and turned onto a smaller road stopping at a huge fenced in area. The sign at the gate read "Adelphi Laboratory Center" which I assumed was where Gannon was based. We seemed to drive through various gates which all had armed guards stood watching us and pulled up in front of a single story red bricked building.

Gannon pulled me out of the car and across to the entrance just as the other cars came to a stop. As the soldiers started to get out Gannon shouted out his orders.

"Put them into the cells on the lower floor"

But I never got a chance to see Ranger or Ash before he pulled me in through the doors. The building was pretty nondescript with an area just inside that only had two doors leading from it. The floor was black linoleum and the walls were painted white, we walked across the area stopping in front of an elevator, I was stood between Gannon and the soldier as the elevator door slid open, I noticed that it was the soldier who had used a card to open the doors and control where the elevator was going. The elevator took us down, how far I wasn't sure but when we came out, we were in a long corridor with doors leading from it. The soldier used a card to open a door at the far end and walked me into a room.

"You're accommodation Miss Plum"

"What time is it?"

He looked at his watch and then at me, obviously deciding whether to answer me or not then probably decided there was no point in lying to me or refusing.

"1500hrs"

"I'm hungry and thirsty, could I have some food and drink?"

"I'll think about it"

He turned and after he'd left closed the door, a clunking sound told me it was locked. I didn't know what would happen or how long he'd keep me here for, probably it wouldn't be too long before he came back, for some reason I think he would feel he could get answers from me before Ranger or Ash. Yeah, he'd see me as an easier person to deal with, bring it on Gannon, because if it was one thing I could do it was talk and get the other person to talk more.