Chapter 48
RPOV
After Steph left the table, I felt my temper rise. These two bastards had put her through hell, never once had they considered her safety or mental well-being. Worse than that was how she would cope with their betrayal.
"You used Steph"
"Ranger we had no other choice. We tried to get her away from the danger, but every time we managed it she somehow turned all our plans upside down"
"We worked hard to make sure you came home from that mission quickly. We knew she'd listen to you"
I looked at Remi confused at how they could have had anything to do with that.
"How?"
"I have clearance like you, I found out what the mission was and who was part of the team"
"I, err, uploaded the information onto Ash's unit so you'd find the man you were after. Then made sure the intel sent the soldiers to the wrong place"
I couldn't believe the extent that Gannon had gone to and that he had broken every protocol of confidentiality and told this woman Remi.
"Ranger, Remi is her father's daughter, she is an absolute genius with electronics"
"I made sure Steph had enough money not to have to start with worrying about going after skips"
"What about Morelli, Gannon?"
"He'd put word around town that Steph was his fiancé and was being held by you against her will"
"So you thought he could serve a warrant to get her out?"
"Yeah, he's delusional. He really thinks she belongs to him. I wanted to make sure Steph was somewhere safe, but he kept ranting on how he'd be the one to do that"
"Get him to back off, Steph isn't interested in him"
"I tried to, but he isn't listening to me. I know she's with you now and that you can keep her safe"
"What will you two do now?"
"Nothing much we can do. Gaunt and Dolby have both lost their base of operations, so we'll probably move on, back to our jobs"
I looked at Remi trying to make sense of what she was saying, trying to decide whether to believe her or not. I wasn't confident that they would just disappear. Did the means justify the end result? Hell, I'd asked myself that question so many times on past missions. The answer I always came to was no, because I had to live with the way I had done things to get the end result the government wanted and I was finding the weight of that too heavy on my soul. Steph was the light that had slowly wormed it's way in, giving brightness to my darkened soul. If she were to falter, I wasn't sure she'd be strong enough to relight the spark that was so much a part of her.
"You realize that how you have used Steph could destroy her?"
"Please Ranger, I know now that we underestimated her, but I would never do anything to hurt her or what she has found with you"
I looked down at my watch expecting Steph to be back by now and then realizing how long she'd been gone I began to panic. Gannon saw my expression change.
"What's wrong Ranger?"
"Steph, she should be back by now"
I stood up so quickly my chair fell over and I ran toward where she had headed to. I was calling her name as I entered the ladies room only to be greeted by absolute silence. Remi was right behind me and checked in the stalls.
"She's not here. Where would she go?"
I had no time to talk with her and as I headed for the front door had my phone in my hand talking to Santos.
"Steph's gone, get Hector to pull up her trackers"
I heard Hector in the background.
"Sending to your phone"
As I reached my car I heard the sound of my phone and pulled up the map with a small circle that showed where she was. I was in the car driving following the map when I realized the road had come to an end and I was sat in a car park next to a park. I saw a black SUV already parked, which made me relieved that a team had followed her. Another SUV came to a stop next to me and I saw Santos exit a car and run over to me. Together we continued along a narrow track following the image on my phone. As we rounded a corner I stopped, looking at the scene in front of me.
"I'll watch your back"
I nodded at Santos as I walked forward, watching my Babe as she swung back and forth on a swing. She didn't see me or hear me, but I noticed her hand go to her neck and slight smile cross her lips. I stepped in front of the swing and caught hold of the ropes.
"I love you"
There were tear tracks down her face as I continued to look at her. I heard her whisper, almost too softly to catch what she'd said.
"I'm sorry"
I let the swing return to its resting position and then cupped her face in my hands as my lips swept across hers, I whispered.
"You scared the shit out of me"
Crouching down I pulled her body to mine her head against my chest feeling her arms come around my neck.
"I felt like I was suffocating"
"I know Babe, I'm so sorry I didn't see what was going on"
"None of us did. Now we have to decide what the hell to believe"
I stood with her against me, lifting her up and feeling her legs wrap around me then walked back the way I had come. I saw Santos behind me and Hector ahead. Ash and Zeph were stood with the cars and I acknowledged each of them as I got in the back of one of the SUVs with Steph. Ash was driving with Zeph next to him. I knew Santos and Hector would be behind us with the other two cars. I was surprised when Steph sat up and turned to the front.
"Did you hear everything Ash?"
"Yeah I did Angel"
"What do think?"
"Un fucking believable. But I suppose it's a plausible story"
"That's what I thought"
When the hell had she arranged with Ash to carry a mic? It was a brilliant idea and I only wish I'd had the foresight to do the same.
"Ash I assume you recorded it?"
"Of course Ranger"
"I need to talk with Steph before we listen to it again. Call a meeting for this evening 1800hrs"
"No problem. I'm going to make sure that woman, Remi, can't access anything inside Rangeman. Maybe we should meet downstairs in the comms room, that room has full lockdown"
"What are thinking Ash?"
"Too many questions Ranger"
I wasn't surprised to feel Steph relax as we travelled through the streets. By the time we reached Rangeman she was sound asleep. I carried her up to seven and settled her on the bed, removing her vest and arsenal, before returning to the office off the lounge. I'd left the door to the bedroom open so I would know when she woke. A message to Ash had the audio of the meeting appearing on my laptop, with the message that Remi could snarf information from my phone. Reading that I shut my phone down along with the one Steph had taken with her. I spent the next two hours listening to the conversation and writing down notes and questions, somehow, we needed to decide what our next move might be. At 1600hrs I was aware as Steph walked through to the bathroom and waited for her to find me. When she stepped into the office, she came over to me and sat on my knee snuggling into me with my arm around her.
"I love you Ricardo Carlos Manoso"
I looked into her eyes.
"Yo también te quiero"
"What do you think?"
"I think maybe some of what they're telling us is the truth, but there were just too many loopholes. I have no intention of trusting them"
"Good because they are only interested in the end result, not of the casualties that may fall by the wayside"
"How is it that you are thinking more like me?"
"It's how I've always thought. Maybe now I'm not scared to voice them"
"Why were you scared before?"
"I didn't think that my opinions were that good and I didn't want you to think any less of me"
"Never think that Babe, I will always listen to what you have to say"
"We need to head downstairs don't we?"
"Unfortunately, yes"
Picking up the papers I'd printed we headed down the stairs and through to the comms room. As soon as we entered, I saw Ash hit a switch and noted the screens flicker and the lights dim slightly before returning to their original brightness. I noted who was present as I sat down. Ash and Zeph who were new here and had certainly earned their way to be here. Santos, Tank and Bobby who were part of the core team, with Ram, Cal, Hector and Hal who would always be relied on to protect both Rangeman and now Steph. She was sat next to me and was here in her own right, she'd shown a side of her to me that amazed me. I had always seen the potential in her but had thought she wouldn't want to be part of this life. How wrong I'd been, because she had as much to offer as any of the men here.
"Has everyone listened to the tape from today? Ash?"
"I don't trust them not to use and sacrifice anyone here"
"Do you believe their story?"
"I don't know"
"Does anyone disagree?"
I looked around the men at the table noting each of them shake their heads.
"Santos use the board to record. Let's have questions we need answering"
Santos stood up, highlighter in hand, looking expectantly at me. One by one questions were asked by the men and Santos wrote each one down. I was concerned when Steph hadn't said anything to contribute yet.
"Is Remi who she says she is?"
"Is Gannon working for the government?"
"What does Gaunt want now, has his programming been destroyed?"
"Does a microchip exist?"
"How does Dolby fit into this?"
"What's Morelli's involvement?"
"Is Steph safe?"
Everyone's attention shifted to Steph as she stood up and started to pace, we all knew she preferred to think either when pacing or laid down on a bed with a pillow over her head. When she stopped, she was looking at Ash, what the hell was going through her mind?
"Ash, do you have that pen drive?"
"The one you brought from the military base?"
"Yes"
Ash stood up and opened a drawer in the desk underneath one of the computers, holding it up for her to see. Steph walked to him and took hold of the pen drive, tapping it against her lips.
"Can I use this computer?"
"No, use this one Estefania, it not connected to the server"
Hector placed a laptop in front of her and watched as she switched it on and then pushed the device into the port. I walked behind her to see what she was going to do, surprised when she opened a file that required a password. There was also a warning that there was only one remaining chance of inputting the correct password before the file would be destroyed.
"Babe?"
"I've thought a lot about this. I know the words that Gannon and Remi could have tried but there's one word that no one but Buckley has ever mentioned to me"
I watched fascinated as she typed in "Pandora'sBox" and held my breath as she hit the return button. The atmosphere in the room changed when a series of files opened up across the screen.
"Angel you are a genius"
"No, I just had to think what Buckley would have used and remembered this name when he was talking to me"
"Babe open up the video file first"
As the file opened the image of Buckley appeared on the screen. He looked worried and agitated as he constantly looked around and behind him. The scene behind him put him inside a house, a large window in the background with tables covered in computers surrounding him. Eventually he settled back on the chair and started to look into the camera then began to talk.
"I hope that whoever is listening to this will understand. I have always been dedicated to pursuing ways in which humanity can be improved upon. For decisions to save lives to be fast and accurate, analysis to quickly and safely diffuse situations. I suppose I was looking for something that was morally and ethically supreme. Solutions to expediate political arguments and methods to ensure that food and medicine were available to anyone and everyone.
It's only recently that I have come to understand how stupid my idealistic views were. The world is held in a perpetual balance of good and evil. The existence of one can only be controlled by the other. My ideals cannot get rid of one without destroying the other. I've gone too far in my research and development. My ambition to create something totally good has helped the evolution of something that could be turned into something totally evil. A balance that is too heavy for me. I cannot allow that evil to become strong.
Perhaps when mankind has evolved to a higher level of understanding and mutual focus for the good of all, my work would be supportive.
For now, I need to protect my work, keep it safe, so I hope how I have done this will work. The people around me are like vultures, I don't know who to trust anymore. I had thought that William was of the same mind as me, but what I have discovered has shocked me to my core. He took something so precious from my Josie. He tricked me by thinking he could use the data from her research. That he could reincarnate her in some way. He has no idea how asinine his ideas were and are. I had no idea how perverted he was, or that he'd actually persuaded her into sharing her research with him. I'm almost afraid he may have been instrumental in her death. Maybe it's the guilt that eventually ate away at him. I don't know, but I cannot allow him to continue especially if he thinks that my work will in any way contribute toward defiling her memory.
The other evil out there is probably the oldest in the world, greed and the need for power. Dolby was forever trying to talk me into focusing my work on the virtues of warfare.
Yes, there is a place for robotics, but I am a firm believer, like many others, that the realization of that would be catastrophic. Mankind has got to be solely in control.
A new player came into play recently, but I have no idea what their intentions are. I am still trying to discover that. For now, the key to my utopia is safe, maybe to be lost forever or eventually rediscovered when the time is right. I pray that my angel will protect it"
As he finished his speech there was absolute silence in the room. My own thoughts were that Adrian Buckley was born before his time. I had no doubt that his intentions were honest and honorable. The problem would be keeping his secret safe, keeping it away from men who would use it for evil. Where it was, I had no idea or what format it would take. Everyone had assumed he would keep his research electronically, but I wasn't so sure now. I did think he would have put it somewhere very safe where it wouldn't be easily found or damaged.
After just sat watching the screen for several minutes Steph closed the video file down and opened the other file. The whole file was filled with music files.
"I think he liked Elton John, Eric Clapton Bruce Springsteen and Lou Reed"
"Hey, I like some of those songs as well"
"Only you Beautiful could have such a diverse taste in music"
"Could you upload those onto my phone Ash?"
"Sure Angel"
I needed control and to get us back to the meeting at hand otherwise we would never make any plans for our next actions. That would mean another day wasted, and another day meant that Steph would start getting anxious about being inside the building.
"Men. We need to focus on what we do next"
I took my seat and watched as everyone settled back to where they had been sat. Santos was stood next to the board and had written the heading "Actions"
"A conversation with Gaunt"
"You want to pick him up and bring him here Tank?"
"My pleasure, Cal you're with me"
"Keep surveillance on Dolby"
"You up to that Santos?"
"Yeah, Hector and I will try to plant as many trackers and bugs on him and any properties we find. Beautiful can you maybe find out more about him?"
I watched as he wrote everything down, pleased when he was so quick to include Steph. If anyone could find something on Dolby it would be her.
"Hector, that chip we found?"
"Nada. Burnt out component from a computer"
"Ash?"
"I want to find out more about this Remi woman"
"Okay, who do you want with you?"
"Nah, I'll start on the searches first, see what I can find"
"Zeph?"
"I'm on Morelli, I want to know what the hell he's up to and who with"
"Hedley wasn't sure about that warrant, not the usual through a police department"
"Army issue?"
"No one was sure so let's assume it was a false document"
"The men with him?"
"Officers from New York who Morelli probably duped into helping him"
"I don't suppose anyone has any idea of where Buckley might stash his research work?"
"Sorry Santos, I don't think anyone knows. We'll meet same time tomorrow unless anything immediate comes up"
"Anything else?"
I looked around confirming that no one had anything else to add then waited for the men to leave before catching hold of Steph's hand and walking to the elevator and then up to seven.
As I entered the apartment, I toed off my boots and dropped the keys in the tray, all the while I kept my hand in hers. As the keys hit the tray I felt her trying to pull me behind her so letting her have her way I followed her through to the bedroom. Once there she turned me around and started to pull off my T-shirt and she wasn't calm about it. Her movements were frantic and her mouth against mine showed a desperation I'd never experienced before. My reaction was to respond with the same uncontrolled actions, our tongues colliding, our movement frenzied almost devouring each other. I moved away from her mouth as I tore her T-shirt off her body. I felt her hands pulling at the zipper on my cargos which only fed the craving rushing through me. What we brought to each other was sex in its rawest nature. Our actions and gestures were fast and frenzied, demanding an end that was self-satisfying.
As we lay together with our limbs still wrapped around each other I could feel the fast beat of her heart against me and the sweat from each other. I was suddenly overcome with remorse for how I had treated her.
"I'm sorry Babe, I didn't mean to hurt you. I never wanted to be that rough with you"
"Don't be sorry. I needed it that way as much as you. You didn't hurt me. Actually, I kinda liked it"
"You did?"
"Yeah. I felt like I released all the demons from inside of me and I was as rough with you as you were with me"
"Babe the closer we become the more I love you, you are my soul mate"
"I agree. How about you make sweet love to me now?"
How could I refuse that? I worshipped her body with my hands and mouth showing her exactly how gentle and caring I wanted to be. After she'd slowed down from her first orgasm, I entered her slowly. I was rock solid and struggling to control the feelings and emotions rushing through me. Our finale was tender, slow and full of love. Yes, she was my other half, the person who joined with my soul.
