Chapter 42
RPOV
The discussion with Gaunt had left me intrigued yet anxious, but definitely relieved that intentions seemed genuine, and he had nothing to do with the incidents that Steph had been involved with. Well at least I hoped not. The cause of the low-level humming of my temper was Morelli. What the hell was he up to, was he instigating the intrusion or was he working with someone else? I wanted to sort him out first before we even considered going into that factory. Knowing Morelli, he would be the one to cause us problems. Once in the garage I made my way to the comms room at the back of the range as I was sure everyone would still be there. On entering I was surprised to see Ash sat with Steph watching a screen that had a map on it. In fact, it was very similar to one where we would be watching a tracker. As I approached, I saw Steph's hand go to the back of her neck and heard her. She was obviously too intent on what she was watching to turn around.
"The bastard"
As I came behind her and placed my hands on her shoulders I looked more closely at the map and worked out the tracker had stopped outside of the Plum house.
"Who are you following?"
"Morelli"
I raised an eyebrow at Ash wanting to know what was going on.
"I had Zeph put a tracker on the car he arrived in this morning"
"Where else has he been?"
"Travelled north, stopped I presume to drop off the other two men. Then he was parked outside of the train station for maybe half an hour"
"I want to know what he's up to"
"Babe he could be at your parent's house looking for you"
"I don't think so. Fancy a visit to my parent's house Ranger?"
"Why not, but only after he's left, and we can ensure you're safe"
"Looks like he's leaving and heading to his house"
"Let me get some men in the area first and then we'll leave"
"Okay, I'm hungry. I'm gonna head up to five and grab a sandwich"
As we left the room and made our way upstairs, I messaged Tank and Santos to meet with me in my office, pleased that they were there when I arrived.
"What's up Ranger?"
"Morelli. He's just called at the Plum house, so Steph wants to pay her mother a visit"
"Okay, Santos you cover the back with Cal and I'll grab Ram and cover the front. I assume you'll be going inside with Little Girl Ranger?"
"Yes. I'll get hold of a scanner to take with us just in case the house is bugged"
"30 minutes?"
I nodded my head and made a call to Ash to meet us in the garage and have a scanner with him as well. Then I needed a bite to eat. With a sandwich and water in hand I headed to the room that Steph had been using, finding her sat by the window staring out.
"Babe, you okay?"
"I am now you're here"
I pulled up a chair next to her, leaning toward her to gentle kiss her on her lips.
"You taste like chocolate"
"Ella"
"We'll head out in twenty minutes"
"Who'll be with us?"
"Tank and Ram at the front, Santos and Cal at the back and Ash inside with us"
"Thank you"
"What did you think of what Gauge told us?"
"I think he was telling us the truth. I don't think he knew what Buckley was doing but"
"But?"
"I don't know, something isn't sitting right with me. We need to be careful because I think Gannon will use him to get inside Hastings"
"I'm sure you're right, but I still think Gannon and Dolby will still want to get to you"
"So you think they're working together?"
"It would make sense"
"Okay, I need to freshen up then we can be on our way"
I was in my office when I heard a quiet tap on the door and then it opened with Steph stood waiting. Interesting that she hadn't changed her clothes. The only difference in her appearance was her tied back in a ponytail and mascara on her eyes. We walked in silence down to the garage, her hand locked in mine, and that's where it stayed throughout the entire journey to her parent's house. I have to admit Ash did give me a funny look as I got in the back of the SUV, but he never said anything. I could feel Steph tensing as we parked outside and feel her taking in deep breaths. On a final release of a long breath she started to open the door.
"Okay, let's do this"
"Clear so far"
I knew Ash was in contact with the other guys and as we approached the door, he was holding what looked like a phone in his hand. Steph knocked on the door and walked inside, standing at the entrance to the front room.
"Hey Dad"
"Pumpkin. It's good to see you. You okay?"
"Yeah, fine. Where's Mum?"
"Kitchen probably"
As I followed Steph down the hallway, a look in the room showed her father engrossed in the TV. Why he never had any interest in his own daughter never failed to amaze me. He hardly said more than a sentence to her and seemed to just shut himself off from what was going on around him. Was that his personality or was his wife so domineering? As we stepped into the kitchen Mrs. Plum turned, showing surprise at Steph's entrance then disgust at mine.
"Stephanie, where have you been?"
"I told you. Working"
"Joseph is really worried about you"
"Why?"
"He says that you're been kept away from everyone by those thu . ., men"
Yeah even her mother wouldn't be blatantly rude to me by using that word, but the look she gave me wasn't lost on either one of us.
"Really. Well I'm here now and it's none of his business what I choose to do"
"He says you're in trouble"
"Oh, what kind of trouble"
"I don't know. He said he only wants to keep you safe"
"Really. What else has he said?"
"That he'd like to take you somewhere safe"
"So did he say how he's going to do that?"
"Well he mentioned he knew someone that had a safe place for you to stay"
"Did he say why he thought I was in danger?"
It didn't take a genius to know the answer when her gaze fell on me.
"You know what Mum. I thought you and I had come to an understanding about who is in control of my life. Why was he here, what else did he tell you"
"He only wants to keep you safe"
"Mum he's using you to get to me"
"What do you mean. He says he loves you and you've agreed to marry him and move to New York"
"What has he asked you to do Mum?"
I had listened as the two women spoke but what Mrs. Plum was saying was slowly raising my temper to a whole new level. As Steph spoke the last question she stepped back and grabbed hold of my hand, her deep blue eyes looking intently at mine. My temper subsided as I realized she was in control; she was the one who now had her mother on the defensive. She looked away waiting for a reply as her mother looked down at her hands.
"He wanted me to tell him where you were and he, err, suggested meeting up with Angie to start planning the wedding"
"Then you have a choice Mum. Believe what your daughter says to you or enable that Morelli man to continue to ruin my life. The choice is yours"
"I would never do anything to hurt you, you have to believe me Stephanie"
"Then you have to ignore Morelli and embrace what I want if you still want me as a daughter"
"Of course I do"
"Morelli is lying to you about Ranger and his men"
"But"
"Ellen for once in your life listen to your daughter even if you refuse to hear what I've been saying these last few years"
Everyone turned to see Mr Plum stood in the doorway. At last he was sticking up for his daughter. Obviously, he'd been beaten back by his wife, but maybe now he could start to make his voice be heard.
"Frank?"
"I'm sick and tired of the way you treat Stephanie, it has to stop. That Morelli boy is nothing but trouble. Always was and always will be. If you side with him one more time you're on your own. Another choice to make Ellen"
"I won't do anything to hurt you Stephanie, you have my word. I won't talk to him again"
I watched as Steph walked up to her mother and put her arms around her, the response was stilted, but at least she made the effort. I would always wonder how Steph could be so open with her affections when her mother showed none to her. Steph let go of her mother and turned to me her hand outstretched inviting me to take it.
"This is Carlos Manoso the man I am in love with"
Her mother had a pained look on her face but turning I got a big smile from her father.
"It took you two long enough didn't it"
"I'll speak later Dad. Thanks for supporting me"
"Any time Pumpkin. You take care of her Mr Manoso"
To use a cliché I'd say Steph almost skipped from the house with a bright smile on her face. Once in the car I heard Ash tell the others to head back to Rangeman and heard "Wow. Who would believe that" from Steph. We drove back to Rangeman in silence, I think trying to absorb the conversation that had taken place, but I was surprised when we got into the elevator as Steph began to talk.
"Did you find anything Ash?"
"No, but I thought she was on your side now?"
"Maybe, but she was outnumbered in the end and she can blow hot and cold, so better to be sure than try to guess how she'll react"
I pulled her back into my chest and kissed the lobe of her ear.
"Proud of you Babe"
"Yeah I'm proud of me as well"
"I'm heading to my office to check in with the guys and try to find the schematics for Hastings"
"Okay, I 'll see you on 7 for dinner"
I liked that she seemed so at ease living here, maybe I needed to make that a full time thing. Hell, I have no idea where that thought came from. Something to think about later when all these problems were sorted out. Once sat at my desk I asked for the men who had been doing the surveillance at the park to report back to me so that we could get a feel for the meeting. In the end it was as it had seemed. Gauge had arrived on his own and left on his own. No one else had turned up. Tank set up a roster to keep surveillance on him and I went in search of the schematics for the building. It was whilst I was studying these that Zeph knocked and came into the office. To be honest I had no idea what he'd been doing or where'd he been.
"Zeph?"
"I followed that asshole around. Where he went and who he spoke to"
"Asshole?"
"Morelli"
Now my interest was peeked, because as far as I knew we only had a tracker on his car. I sat back waiting for Zeph to continue.
"He dropped the other two men off and then whilst he was driving back into Trenton he made a phone call. After he parked his car at the train station, he took a roundabout route into a seedy bar, where another man came in and sat with him"
"Do you know who the man was?"
"Oh yeah, I recognized him. It was Gannon. They talked for a while and then it became obvious that Morelli didn't like what he was saying. Morelli stormed out. He then went to a house in the Burg area, stayed about ten minutes and went to where he has a house. A blonde turned up not long after so seeing as he seemed to be occupied for a while I left"
"So Gannon went to Morelli with some cock and bull story and when Morelli couldn't get hold of Steph he suggested something Morelli didn't like"
"Feels like that to me"
"Morelli might be an asshole but usually he plays by the rules"
"You think Gannon provided the warrant?"
"He could have done. Hadley hasn't got back to me yet with any more information"
"So what now?"
"We need to use that information to our advantage"
"Let them think they know where Steph will be while we do the Hastings job?"
"That could work. It's getting that information to them in such a way they'll believe it"
"Maybe Steph will have an idea"
"Possible, but she'll also want to be involved in the planning. I'll call a meeting for 0900hrs tomorrow"
"Sounds like a plan"
Zeph stood and left the room leaving me to think through what we could do. It was no good, I needed Steph's input, she could come up with ideas outside of the box. It was still only 1730hrs so I decided to close my computer down and head up to seven and see what Steph was up to. No doubt she'd be going through in her head everything that had happened today and could be in need of cheering up.
Once I'd entered my apartment I was surprised at how dark and quiet it was, so I quietly headed into the bedroom expecting her to be asleep. I was surprised when she wasn't there, and concern grew that maybe she'd gone back to the apartment on four. I was greeted with the same emptiness in that apartment so headed to the conference room on five in case she'd decided to do more research. When I opened the conference room door to silence, I began to panic. Where the hell was she, surely she wouldn't leave the building without telling me, would she? I headed to the monitoring room and found Hal and Miguel sat in front of the screens.
"Do you have a location for Steph?"
I just hoped they didn't detect the worry in my voice, though when Hal smiled as he turned to me, I wasn't too sure what he thought.
"She's in the gym"
"The gym?"
"Yes"
"Pull up the feed"
"Err, I can't"
"Can't?"
"Ash scrambled the camera"
I turned and was soon taking the stairs two at a time. The idea of Ash being with Steph in the gym was pissing me off especially when he'd taken pleasure in telling me he felt she was a special woman who he'd like to get to know better. As I approached the gym door that feeling of being pissed took on a different kind of emotion. I was jealous. I'd never really felt jealous before, but that was definitely the feeling coursing through me now. I stopped before smashing through the door and thought through how to approach this. I didn't want to upset Steph. The fact that she was in the gym was a good thing not something I wanted her to avoid. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door quietly and slipped just inside the door.
"Okay Angel now you know what you're doing let's try it out real quick and for real"
The scene in front of me took me by surprise. Ash was stood behind Steph with his arms wrapped around her, shit what the hell had I walked into? Then I watched fascinated as Steph brought her head back quickly, she didn't hit Ash but he reflexively moved back. That gave her the opening to shrink her arms to her body and then explode them out and up enabling her to escape from the hold. But then she stepped into him pushing him back by his shoulders while her leg went behind his legs. I clapped my hands as Ash fell over backwards, smiling at how well she'd executed the move. As I moved onto the mat, she started to run at me so I prepared to catch her.
The little minx had other ideas though. Her hands pushed me on my shoulders and as I stepped back, I ended up falling over her leg. I lay there on my back with her grinning down at me. Hell, it was worth the fall to see her smile.
"Babe"
"You're not mad at me, are you?"
Her smile had disappeared and there was worry written all over her face.
I flipped onto my feet and looked at her, smiling back at her.
"Of course not. That was an excellent move"
"She a fast learner Ranger, has some dirty moves of her own though"
"What else has Ash being teaching you?"
"Well I felt really pissed off with Morelli so Ash suggested I pretended the punch bag was his face"
"I showed her how to tape up and how to punch, she really gave it to that bag once I'd shown her the right technique"
"I understand why you sometimes come down here to let off steam"
"Angel I'm heading out; you still want to learn some more?"
"Is that okay Ash?"
"0700hrs here Angel"
I'm sure I heard her groan as I placed my arm over her shoulders.
"Have a soak in a warm bath to ease your muscles or you'll be sore tomorrow"
We headed back to seven and whilst Steph pulled some bottles of water from the fridge, I filled the tub for her, adding some salts into the water. We passed on the corridor as she headed for her bath and I changed into some joggers. A call to Ella confirmed dinner would be here by 7 along with some fresh pineapple. Once done I headed into the bathroom and sat down next to the tub, leaning against the wall.
"Everything go okay with today?"
"Yeah the guys reported that there hadn't been anyone else turn up"
"Okay, so what's wrong?"
"Why do you say that?"
"You have that look"
"What look?"
"That you know something but you're not going to tell me"
I knelt up and leaned over the edge of the tub and with my hand under her neck and the other below the water cupping her breast I brought my lips down to hers, teasing until she gave in and gave me access. Her hand drew me closer as she reciprocated the move, a small sigh escaping her lips as my fingers massaged her nipple. As we pulled away to catch our breath she quickly sat up. My eyes immediately were drawn to the sight of her pert breasts above the level of the water.
"Oh no, you need to tell me, not seduce me"
"I can do both"
"It's that bad?"
I sighed as I drew back and looked at her.
"Zeph followed Morelli this afternoon"
"And?"
"He met up with Gannon"
"So who is pulling the strings there?"
"I think Gannon is because apparently Morelli got quite pissed off and walked out"
"Okay, so how do we use that to our advantage?"
I smiled at her reaction. Here I was thinking she'd be upset or annoyed, but she'd come to the same conclusion as we had.
"I think we use it when we need them to be too preoccupied when we go into Hastings"
"So we need a way of leaking the information that would tell them where I was going to be"
"Yes"
"Okay, let me think on that. Now weren't you going to seduce me?"
I stood up and turned on the shower so that while I undressed the water would warm up. Then I lifted her from the bath and proceeded to seduce her in the shower. I'd found that the more we made love the more adventuress Steph became so by the time we were finished she was totally relaxed.
Once we'd managed to eat the meal Ella had provided, I decided that Steph probably needed a massage to loosen her muscles. I didn't want her to be put off exercising because of being sore afterwards. It was also an excellent way of sensitizing her body for further seduction. Forty minutes later I totally regretted the idea of giving her massage. I was totally turned on through being able to run my hands all over her shoulders, back, and thighs. The problem was that Steph was soundly asleep. I pulled the covers over her and just sat in the chair watching her sleep, feeling myself relax as I examined just how much I loved her. All of her, and I wasn't just talking about the physical aspect of us together, though that was beyond anything I'd ever experienced with any other woman. In these few weeks she'd blossomed into a real partner, both in work and personally. She was truly an angel, caring and compassionate but feisty and courageous. She was everything I didn't know I needed.
