Chapter 71
RPOV
The meeting was not as I expected it to be with my lawyer. For some reason news of my marriage to Steph didn't go down too well with him. His first reaction was why hadn't I made her sign a prenup. Like hell that was going to happen. When I explained she had money of her own he backed off from that, but then started to question me about what I'd written in my will. I'd spoken with Tank, Santos and Bobby to prewarn them of my intentions. If anything happened to me Steph would take over my holdings in the company, although I had never discussed it, I wanted Steph to be a partner within the company now.
To be honest after an hour I was ready to sack him and find someone who would just do as I asked. Eventually he must have sensed my anger with him and agreed to write everything up as I'd asked. We were just talking through exactly what constituted my estate when an alert went out on my phone.
"Sorry Tom, I have to deal with this"
My heart dropped when I saw that it was an alert from Hal. I was sure he had been rostered to be with Steph.
"Tom take the file I gave you and get things sorted, I have an emergency"
"Surely the men you employ can deal with it?"
"Not when it concerns my wife"
Yeah, he decided to stay quiet after that and I was already on my way out of the room and heading up to five. I found Hector looking at where Hal was when he'd activated his panic button.
"Teams on their way, should only be a couple of minutes"
"Tank pull up Steph's trackers"
"Not where Hal is, she's down river somewhere, let me zoom in"
I watched as he followed the blue dot and realized for some reason, she was in the old warehouse district. Why was she there, but more importantly who was she with?
"Get a team together, I'm heading out now, tell them to meet me there"
"You think Jones has anything to do with this?"
"Possibly, find out"
I didn't care who was with her, I just knew I had to get to her. At that moment an alert sounded on every phone in the room. A look told me that Steph had managed to hit her panic button. In some ways that made me feel easier, she was alive and conscious. I headed to my office first to collect my weapons and vest and then made for the garage. I heard footsteps behind me and saw Santos following me.
"I'm with you"
I wasn't going to argue with him, having Santos at my back was probably for the best even though I knew a team wouldn't be far behind. Once in the car I hit the accelerator only just missing the gate as it swung open. For some reason I knew she was in trouble and that I couldn't waste any time getting to her.
As always when her alert went off, I drove faster than the speed limits. If a police car saw me, they'd have to catch me first. Traffic was a nightmare, people probably heading home from work, but I made good use of the lanes and overtook when I could. We arrived outside of the building Hector had located. The blue dot now showing on the app on my phone. It was an old place and fairly big, we could waste time just looking for her. I called Hector and breathed a sigh of relief when he'd already anticipated me.
"I send plan of building. She looks to be on first floor, center. I think small room"
Parked in front of what seemed to be a door leading into the building was a new looking minivan. Maybe it belonged to whoever had taken Steph. We both entered the building with guns in our hands. It seemed eerily quiet if someone was here. We were vigilant for anyone keeping guard but didn't come across anyone. The stairs were to one end, through a large storage area that was full of litter and debris. I was surprised there weren't any homeless people here because there looked to be evidence of someone using the place.
The stairs were a nightmare to go up. Their condition wasn't great. Sections were rotted away and being quiet was almost impossible. We checked each room as we passed by, all empty, and quiet. To get to the center of the building involved walking through some rooms, there was just no logic to the layout. Then I heard it, voices. I motioned to Santos the direction they were coming from. As we entered another room, I heard clearly a man speaking and my heart ran cold.
"I want you to die knowing what you did, in pain. A bullet to the stomach so you'll feel yourself burning just like Jason did"
"Ranger we need to be on the other side of this room"
We backtracked trying to find our way to where the voices had come from, then I smelt it, gasoline. No, this couldn't happen, she couldn't die when I was so close. The beast within me came to the surface and not even thinking of my own safety I crashed through a door and heard the deafening blast of a gun going off. I roared as I ran at the man holding the gun. He turned with a smile on his face that fell away as soon as he saw me. No one hurt Steph, and he had. As I lunged at him, I swept my arm down on his wrist holding the gun. As it dropped to the floor, he regained some sense of awareness and in the other hand I saw the flicker of a flame from a lighter. He rolled to the floor and suddenly blue flames were racing around the room.
"Get her out"
Was all I could shout as I determined the man in front of me would die, Dempsey, someone I would never have thought of was now in my hold. My arms were round his throat as I used my body to pin him down.
"You can't kill me, I'm your commanding officer"
"I don't think so"
I moved to kneeling and pulled his back to me, a hand was on his chin as I braced my arm other around his throat to his shoulder. I was aware of the flames now reaching higher into the air, the smoke produced from the burning wood rolling around to fill the room. This place was like a tinder box, ready to be consumed with the fire. Whilst I would have liked for Dempsey to suffer, to die very slowly and in pain, the need to get to Steph was far stronger. A quick pull on his chin and face and I heard the crack coming from his neck. He was dead as soon as I had finished the movement. I let his body fall to the floor and then looked for the way out.
The fire was burning hot and fast, so I knew I needed to get out and quickly. I was sure that Santos would have got Steph out safely but now I remembered her falling from the shot. She couldn't be dead, not now, not after everything we'd been through. I'd only just really found her, and I wouldn't know what I'd do if I lost her now. I tried to retrace the way we'd come in but found myself at dead ends. The smoke was getting thicker and the sound from the fire was intense. I pulled my jacket over my mouth and nose aware of the smoke now hitting the back of my throat causing me to start coughing.
"Ranger, here, quickly"
"Tank?"
"Yeah, let's get out of here"
Behind Tank were two other figures that I recognized as Cal and Miguel.
"Steph?"
"Outside, Bobby's with her. Ambulance is on its way"
"Is she okay?"
"Not sure. I headed up to get to you"
I followed Tank back to the stairs and down. This time I was almost running to get out to Steph. The scene outside was chaotic. The ambulance had arrived but so had several fire trucks and police cars. I made for the ambulance and stared down the medic as I climbed in. I needed to know Steph was going to be alright, that she wasn't badly injured. Bobby was already sat down beside her. She had an oxygen mask on over her face and he was attaching an IV. It was how quiet and still she was that was unnerving me. Her face was covered in black soot obviously from leaving the building.
"Are you injured sir?"
"No"
"Then you can't be here"
"He has medical proxy, so he stays"
I nodded to Bobby to offer my thanks, but my eyes never left Steph's face and as we started to move Bobby moved seats to allow me to sit next to her. I was desperate just to touch her so took one of her hands in mine, and with my other hand I gently caressed her cheek that didn't have evidence of injury. I was surprised how even her breathing was and looked down her body for where the bullet had hit her. There were no signs of any bleeding against the T-shirt.
"Bobby where did she get hit?"
He had the audacity to smile slightly as he bent down and picked something up from the floor.
"Her coat had a hole through it so at first I thought that she was wearing a vest. Seems Buckley saved her life again"
He handed me a bronze piece of metal, a plate of some sort, which when I turned it over to look at it had an inscription engraved on it. In the center below the inscription was a bullet embedded in the metal.
"The bullet hit this?"
"Yeah, I found it under her coat. The impact caused a lot of bruising but it stopped the bullet"
I felt Steph's breathing begin to rise and her body begin to tense under me, she was slowly gaining consciousness. I moved my hand to her cheek and began to whisper to her wanting her to know that I was with her and she wasn't in any danger anymore.
"Babe, Todo está bien, ahora estás a salvo. Estoy aquí mi amor"
I watched as her eyes fluttered open, the panic still there, but relieved as she focused them on me.
"Don't move, you have some bruising that's causing you some pain"
"Dempsey?"
"He can't hurt you now"
Her eyes closed again just as I felt the ambulance turn and then come to a stop. The doors opened quickly so I had to stand back as the gurney was rolled away from me. I followed taking her hand in mine as we quickly moved through the doors and toward A & E. Bobby was on her other side but as she was taken into a room, I was stopped by one of the nurses.
"You can't be in here. Go to the waiting room, as soon as we know something, I'll come tell you"
Bobby was standing behind the nurse but stayed facing me as the doors closed once more.
"Here, they removed all of her jewelry in the ambulance. I'll be right with her all the time. Go do the admission papers. As soon as I know how she is I'll come get you"
I looked down at the small plastic bag he'd handed me seeing her watch, earrings, engagement ring and wedding band. At this moment I didn't give a shit who knew we were married. I collected the papers needed for the insurance and went into the waiting room to fill them in. The first question gave me pause for thought. Name of injured person. Steph and I had talked about that while we were down at the beach house and we both wanted her to change her surname. It gave credence to how much we meant to each other and shouted it out to the world. Tom was currently changing her name on all of the relevant documents. So, I wrote down Stephanie Manoso, liking the sound of it.
Then next to relationship to injured person I completed the box with the word husband and gave my name as next of kin. The rest of the form was quickly completed and returned to reception. I took pleasure from the look the woman gave me as she read the form and then returned to the waiting area.
There were more people here than before and I noticed that many of my men had arrived. They knew not to ask me about how Steph was, that I would tell them when I knew something. Time seemed to drag by and if hadn't been for Tank nudging me I wouldn't have looked up to see Bobby stood by the door. I left the room to listen to what he wanted to tell me.
"She's doing well. Because of the bruising they wanted to check for any internal damage. She has a cracked rib on her side but everything else is severe bruising where the bullet hit her and the plate dug in. Her cheek and head will swell up but shouldn't take long to settle down"
"Can I see her?"
"Give them ten minutes to settle her into a room and then come up to room 309. She's awake but drowsy with pain meds"
I was so relieved that she hadn't been injured more seriously and could now think through the other questions that had been trying to come to the surface. The main one being why had Dempsey wanted her dead? I didn't go back into the waiting room so caught Tank's eye to come to me.
"She's fine, a bit drowsy. Let people know but for now no visitors until I've seen her"
"Good, that's a relief, the men were getting really worried. Frank said he's on his way and should be here soon"
I hadn't even thought about letting people know she'd been rushed to the hospital, glad that Tank had taken that initiative. I used the stairs and headed up to her room, suddenly nervous about going in. Had Dempsey attacked her because of me, was I the reason she'd been hurt? I stood just inside the door and watched as she lifted her face to look at me, a slight smile on her face. I was beside her so quickly she didn't have chance to blink. My face was next to hers, kissing everywhere gently, careful of the bruise on her face.
"How are you feeling?"
"Weird, some pain but I feel like I'm spaced out"
"Bobby said they gave you pain meds"
"That accounts for it"
Her head went down and tears started to fall. I knew pain meds could make her very emotional, but she looked so miserable.
"Babe, why the sad face?"
"I killed his son"
"Whose son?"
"Dempsey's"
I knew nothing about her being involved with anyone that had died and that would be something I would have been told about. That Dempsey had a son was news to me.
"How did he die, Babe?"
"It was my car, he died because of my car"
"What exactly did Dempsey say?"
"That I was responsible because my car was a deathtrap and shouldn't have been on the road"
"Babe did you hit him?"
"No, he was the one who stole it"
"So Dempsey thinks that because your car was a wreck that's why his son died?"
"He said the brakes were bad, and the gas tank was rotten and the steering was off. Oh god it really is my fault, I'm to blame. I shouldn't have ever bought it, but I couldn't afford anything better"
By now she wasn't just crying she was shaking and sobbing, something I could do something about. I sat on the edge of the bed and held her face in my hands looking into her face.
"Breathe with me Babe"
"I c can't, I k k illed him"
"No you didn't"
"But the car"
"Was running fine"
"No, you're wrong"
"Babe every time you spent a few hours working at Rangeman Luis did some work on your car. Do you think I'd let you drive something that might get you hurt?"
"But there were all sorts of things wrong"
"He replaced the gas tank, repaired the steering and replaced the brake discs. He was waiting for the parts to sort out the locking mechanism on the passenger door"
"But Dempsey said he'd been told it was because of the state of my car that his son died"
"Who would have told him that?"
Her sobbing had stopped and as she controlled her breathing I could tell that she was trying to remember.
"He said a detective at the station"
"Why would a detective be involved?"
"I don't know, it was Eddie that I spoke with when my car was stolen and involved in an accident"
I wiped away the few tears slowly trailing down her cheek waiting for her to work things through in her head.
"Morelli. Morelli came to see me the evening it happened. He was so annoyed at me and he told me how bad my car was, how I'd get someone killed"
"He knew about all of the faults on it?"
"Yeah. Then he gave me an ultimatum. Go to New York with him or he'd leave"
"I'm glad you didn't go with him"
"So am I"
I took the plastic bag from my pocket and found her rings. Carefully I replaced them back on her finger.
"Mrs. Manoso"
"Thank you. Do people know?"
"I filled out the paperwork in your married name"
"I don't care anymore. I'm just so happy to have survived today"
"So am I Babe. Now rest and go back to sleep. There will be people who will want to see for themselves that you're okay"
I kissed each of her eyelids pleased as they stay closed and she seemed to be falling asleep. I left the room pleased to see Santos stood outside.
"How is she?"
"She's sleeping, she's going to be fine"
"Good, any idea why Dempsey was after her?"
"Yes and if I have it figured out right a certain detective is going to be wishing he'd immigrated to the other side of the world rather than the west coast"
"Morelli! How?"
"I'll fill you in later"
I headed back to the waiting area to let people know how Steph was, surprised and furious when the man sat next to Mrs. Plum was Morelli. He didn't give me a chance to get into the room before he was in my face. Maybe a public confrontation would be a start to what I intended to do to him.
"What the hell trouble is she in now?"
"None now Morelli"
"Now, you mean she was, or was it your trouble that caught up to her?"
"No, not my trouble"
"I heard it was some Colonel who took her and hurt her"
"I heard it was because some stupid detective told him Steph's car had been responsible for killing his son"
I watched as he actually thought through what I'd said.
"You mean the one who stole her car?"
"Yes"
"Well it was. It was a fucking wreck it shouldn't have been allowed on the road"
"So you knew it needed work doing to it but did nothing to help?"
I saw Frank stand up and come to join me, he looked absolutely livid.
"You let my daughter, a woman you professed to love, ride around in a car that bad and did nothing, said nothing?"
"She needed to learn that she was no good at bounty hunting"
"If she'd married Joseph then she wouldn't have been in that car"
"Ellen, shut up. You make a decision now. Stand by your daughter and me or get out"
The room was now in absolute silence as they watched and listened to the words passing between us. I think for some of my men they were beginning to put the pieces together and weren't pleased judging from their expressions.
"Morelli you told Mr Dempsey that Steph's car was responsible for his son dying. You told him all the things that you thought were wrong with the car and between the two of you, laid the blame on Steph. That man Colonel Dempsey went after Steph to avenge his son's death"
"I was annoyed, I never meant for him to go after Steph"
"The problem is that Steph's car was in good working order, I made sure of that. I had the repairs done because I wasn't going to let a car be the reason she got hurt when I could have done something about it. That's the difference between us Morelli. All you have ever done is think of yourself and how you can manipulate a situation"
"Are you saying it wasn't the car?"
"Yes. The car was in good running order, it was probably the kid who was to blame"
"Morelli, I think you should leave. I'll be contacting the police commissioner about your behavior. You nearly got my daughter killed"
I watched as Morelli slowly realized exactly the mistake he'd made and just how serious Frank was. I'd wait and support Frank then decide how to deal with Morelli myself. He was a parasite with how he treated people. The temperature in the room went up as he turned and left without saying another word. Frank was stood next to me as we watched his back disappear.
"Carlos, how is she, maybe now we can sort out when visiting would be best"
"She's fine, a cracked rib and some severe bruising"
"Well I need to see my daughter now"
I turned to look at Mrs. Plum. She really was a piece of work. I had a sneaking suspicion that she was how Morelli was here.
"How was Morelli even here?"
"He heard she'd been hurt and contacted me, I said he could come visit"
"For the few hours the only visitor she can have is next of kin"
"I'm her mother so I'll go now"
"No, I'm next of kin Mrs. Plum"
"You may think you're engaged to her but that doesn't give you any rights Mr Manoso"
"No, but being her husband does"
I turned after that comment winking at Frank and watching Mrs. Plum's face. Her shocked look was overtaken from the cheers from the rest of the people in the room. Frank followed me out of the waiting room, so I let him walk with me.
