Chapter 39

"There are coordinates on the seat next to you, fly there or I'll start to carve her up. Drop your weapon behind you and don't think for a minute that there are others in here. I removed them all while I was waiting for you"

The gun had been replaced with a long sharp knife that glinted in the dim interior lights. I stepped back, toward the front where Les was but the man only followed me, the knife staying a few inches from my chest. I could see the look of desperation cross Les's face and heard as he dropped his gun on the floor. We were already high in the air so he wouldn't have been able to leave the controls and help me with the assailant.

Liam was quick to pick up the gun and put it into the back of his trousers and I was backed up in the corner with Les glancing my way while he maneuvered the helicopter. Liam suddenly moved forward and grabbed me by my arm surprising me as he yanked my watch from my wrist before dropping it on the floor and stomping on it.

"Wouldn't want anyone following us now would we"

I hated that he was being so smart with what he knew and how this was happening.

"Sit down and you won't get hurt. Mr Santos, have you read the coordinates?"

I knew Les wouldn't want me hurt so wasn't surprised when he read them out loud. That's when I realized we still had our ear buds and mics on and just prayed that we weren't too far away for the signal to be picked up.

"Why Liam, why are you doing this?"

"You know I thought you would have worked it out by now"

"No, life's been a bit busy recently"

"Not so busy that you got the FBI to allow you to reopen those cases"

Oh shit, was that what this was about? Was Liam connected somehow to Jinski and that elusive woman Lyn. Why the hell had my tracker been damaged, Hector or Ranger would have been able to follow it. Then I remembered that Ranger had told me that Les had one as well, all I had to was hang onto that fact and pray that Liam didn't separate me from Les.

I had questions though that I wanted answers to, so many things fought to control what I was thinking. But the one thought that came loud and clear was that I didn't want to die like those other women had. Alone and knowing that the end was near for me.

"Liam, I don't understand. I had never connected you to those murders"

"You would have, and then where would we be? Jack has disappeared, I can't find him, was that your doing?"

"No. He's mixed up about something that happened a long time ago"

"He was coping with that until you came along"

"It was him who came to me and asked me to work with him"

"Maybe it was. But you evoked a lot of emotions in him that he'd put to rest"

"What has his dead wife got to do with this?"

"Everything, you'll find out soon enough"

As he spoke, I saw that he was watching Les in the front. I had no idea what Les could do, probably not much without us crashing. I wasn't even sure how long we'd been flying for and the silence in the cabin was doing nothing to calm my nerves.

As I noticed that we seemed to be getting lower I looked out of the window. Nothing but trees came into view making we wonder where the hell we were. We hadn't been travelling that long but my understanding of distance in one of these things wasn't exactly reliable. I felt us bank heavily and was almost sliding from the seat when I felt and heard the unmistakable click of a handcuff go around my wrist. Shit, not again. I was desperately looking around me because I needed to find something that I could hide on me that I could use to try and unpick the damn thing.

What surprised me was that Liam fastened the other cuff around his own wrist, basically fastening me to him. Liam stood up pulling my arm into the air and looked through the glass of the cockpit, as though he was trying to see where we were or if we were in the right place. A few seconds later I felt as we touched down and as Les slowed the blades down.

Liam pulled me to my feet and was opening the door when Les climbed over the seats in the front. He saw the handcuffs and I'm sure he was trying to decide what he could do, especially as he didn't have a gun anymore. The problem was there wasn't anything he could do. Liam pulled me from the helicopter hard making my landing on the ground unbalanced. As I went down to my hands and knees it meant I pulled him down with me. In an instant Les was following us, but not before Liam raised the knife in his hand to my throat. Les watched as Liam pulled me to my feet, a few feet away, but it might as well as have been miles.

"I want to say goodbye to her properly"

I looked as Les as he shouted that out, wondering what the hell he was planning and was surprised when Liam responded with a sneer to his face.

"Go for it, because you'll never see her again"

Les came and stood right in front of me, a hand went into the back pocket of my joggers and the other was clenching the hair at the back of my head. When his lips came down on mine, I just expected a big sloppy kiss from him, so imagine my surprise when his tongue invaded my mouth.

I almost jerked my head back, well I would have if he hadn't been holding it so tightly. Then I tasted something unusual, a coppery taste, the taste of blood inside my mouth. As he continued the earth shattering kiss, I felt some unusual moves coming from Les inside of my mouth but decided not to react to it, after all I'm sure that was just Les being Les and he'd decided to be more amorous than he should have been.

I was suddenly yanked away from Les by Liam, who pulled me by the cuff on my wrist. He'd changed weapons again, from the knife back to the gun and was pointing it at Les.

"Time for you leave Mr Santos"

Les looked at me and then back at Liam, I'm sure trying weigh up if there was anything he could do. A shot rang out and hit the ground in front of Les, making me jump and Les to step back. I had no idea where the shot had come from but seeing as I'd heard that sound too many times before now, I knew we had a sniper somewhere nearby and that he had us in his sights.

"Move"

Les slowly backed away from us and climbed back into the helicopter. I saw the blades rotating faster before Liam made me move away from the helicopter. He turned and started to walk faster dragging me behind him and it was then that I saw a jeep parked just inside of the tree line.

I turned as I heard the helicopter lift up off the ground and then my world stopped when there was an almighty explosion, the helicopter was engulfed in flames with debris flying out in all directions. I stopped and tried to go toward it, Les was in there, he would be hurt and need help.

"He's dead, no one survives an explosion like that. Now get in the jeep"

I hardly heard him as I watched the black smoke rising from the wreckage of what was left of the helicopter. I'd lost Les, he'd died because of me. He was my best friend and didn't deserve for that to happen to him. Tears were pouring from my eyes and I fell to my knees, trying to put my head down onto the ground. All I could say was "No" over and over again between my cries and screams.

When I felt hands on my arms gripping me tightly and trying to make me stand up, I lost it. This man had taken me and killed two people that I was close to. I couldn't contain the rage that went through me or the need to hurt him. I pushed my hands against his chest and pushed him hard, he was totally taken by surprise at my outburst and went over backwards. Of course, I'd forgotten that my wrist was fastened to his so ended up falling on top of him.

My anger didn't stop there, instead I held onto the side of his head and kept slamming it down on the ground. The more he squirmed to get me off him the more inventive I got, so when he thought he bucked me off him it gave me the perfect opportunity to knee him repeatedly in the groin. I was crying hysterically and screaming at him at the same time, but I was still incensed enough to continue pummeling his head and his groin. I had no idea if he was conscious or not, and I didn't care.

I wasn't consciously aware of hands on my arms trying to pull me up, but I knew I was shrugging away the feeling of someone trying to stop me. I didn't want anything to stop me so started to lash out at whoever was trying to get hold of me. That resulted in some grunts from behind me and some foul language.

It was when I was bodily lifted up into the air by arms around my waist that I realized I was losing the battle. I heard the sound of the lock on the cuffs being undone which gave me more freedom to continue my assault on Liam. My arms and legs were still flying around me, but it was what came next that had me going very still.

"Beautiful will you cut it out"

I'd expected someone, anyone really, but probably a friend of Liam's who had come to help him with me. I just never expected to hear the voice that was behind me, I mean I'd just seen him get blown up in the helicopter, hadn't I? As I was set down on the floor, I never even got a chance to see who it was properly because the tears in my eyes were making everything fuzzy. I was being pulled by someone holding my hand and although I was aware that we were heading into the trees I couldn't take my eyes off the man in front of me.

As we left the clearing and entered the trees our speed slowed down in order to navigate through the trees and avoid the roots and rocks. I stopped suddenly and just stared at Les, unable to get my head around what had happened.

"I saw, I heard the explosion. How?"

"I knew there was no way they'd just let me go so I set the controls to start the chopper lifting. I bailed out just as the explosion went off. Hell, it was a close thing Beautiful"

I still couldn't believe that Les was alive and leaned into to him to give him a hug.

"I just need to feel you, to be sure you're really here"

"I'm here Beautiful, but we've got to keep moving"

"Why? Why aren't we getting hold of Liam?"

"Beautiful, there's a sniper out there and I have no idea where he is"

"Where are we heading for?"

"There was a main road over this ridge, hopefully when we get there the cavalry will have arrived"

"Sounds good to me. How will they know where we are?"

We'd started to walk now with me following Les. I could tell that he was being very vigilant to what was around us, I mean every time there was an unusual sound like a branch breaking, he would squat down, pulling me down with him, until he knew that there was no one there.

"You have my tracker"

"How?"

Maybe that's why he'd put his hand in my pocket, but suddenly the memory of Les kissing me came to me.

"You mean?"

"Yeah, I have a crown with a tracker in it. I hate that I had to break it"

"A crown, you put it in my pocket didn't you, please say that you did"

Les stood up and we carried on walking but now I didn't know how to feel.

"Les?"

The way he was grinning I knew that it was his crown that he'd slipped into my mouth that I'd now swallowed and was carrying around in my stomach. No wonder I had tasted a coppery taste, because it must have been Les's blood. The fact that I suddenly went quiet wasn't lost on Les and as we walked further, he hung back a bit to walk beside me.

"Stephanie"

Oh, oh. Les never called me by my name unless he was serious.

"I had to make sure we didn't lose you, so it was the only thing I could come up with"

I squeezed his hand as a way to acknowledge what he'd said and then thought about what would happen to the tracker in my stomach.

"Les. Thanks for looking out for me"

I suppose squeezing my hand was his way to say he understood what I'd said as well. I still couldn't understand why he'd had his hand in my back pocket and at the first opportunity put my hand in to find out. My fingers wrapped around a very small tool and as I brought it out it felt like a very small multitool, one that had a variety of blades and even a small screwdriver.

"Les, you can have this back now"

Les stopped and looked down into my hand and taking the tool put it in his pocket.

"It was the only thing I could think of that might be of any use"

"Thanks Les, for doing that"

I wasn't sure how far we walked or for how long but was sure we should have arrived to wherever we were headed. I was feeling tired and wasn't really taking much notice of what was around us when Les pulled me down beside him. I was sure I hadn't heard anything, but I wasn't going to doubt Les's instincts. After looking out through the trees I suddenly knew what was happening and stood up pulling my hand from Les's.

I was too quick for him to regain a hold on me as I almost ran through the trees. I stopped in front of an old large oak tree and stepped around it. Right into the arms of Ranger. If he was surprised, he didn't show it instead he held onto me tightly, his hands on my waist and in my hair as he buried his face into my neck.

"We need to go Babe"

I didn't want to ask where we would go because to be honest, I couldn't think of anywhere I'd feel safe. No matter where I seemed to go there was always someone who knew how to find me. As we walked in silence, I noticed some of the other guys that were here. There was Ram and Cal, Binkie and Zero and I was sure I spied Hector nearby. Ranger never let go of my hand as we walked and like Les he was constantly on guard.

As we came to a small track, I could see three black SUVs parked up. We waited while Ram and Cal approached them and checked them out then saw Hector approach from the other side.

We were soon driving quickly down the track and out onto the highway. I was with Ranger and Les with Ram driving. Hector and Ram were ahead of us with Cal, Binkie and Zero behind. I wasn't watching where we were going instead, I was thinking about Liam and how it was that he was the one who was after me. I replayed any conversation I'd had with him and every time it came back to one thing. This somehow had something to do with Jack's dead wife Rosa.

"Babe?"

I rested my head back against the headrest and closed my eyes. How did I explain this to him?

"I need to talk to Jack. The man that hijacked the helicopter was Liam, one of the men that was in his team"

"You don't have to do that Babe"

"Yes I do. I'm so tired of people coming after me and not feeling safe. I may just have killed him today, I was so upset and annoyed"

"What caused that reaction?"

"I thought he'd killed Les along with Dax"

"Babe, Dax is fine now. Bobby's with him back at Rangeman"

"How did Liam get up to the roof?"

I heard him sigh and rest his back on the headrest as well before he began to tell me.

"He'd come into reception dressed in an expensive suit saying he was there about a security system. Joss, one of the new guys was trying to get in touch with someone when the power went down. In the confusion the man slipped into the elevator. He must have used the escape hatch and climbed up the ladder in the shaft to come out onto the roof. As all the main systems went down and there was a time lapse before being transferred to the emergency generator no alarms went off. He knew the time he had and planned it perfectly. Then the explosion in the garage made the front entrance dangerous for you. He made the assumption that I'd get you out using the helicopter and he was right"

"How did the explosion happen?"

"Somehow one of the surveillance cars that was due in had the device underneath it. It was ingenious how it had been attached without setting off the alarms. I think your man probably detonated it via a phone when he knew he was in the helicopter"

"I never had any reaction to Liam when I met him, he seemed a nice guy, but somehow I attracted his attention. He knows that we spoke with Daniel and are looking at those files, he just assumed that we'd work it out and it would lead to him"

"Why talk to Jack?"

"Something Liam said about Jack's wife, that's why we have to talk to Jack"

"Then that's what we'll do, but tomorrow"

I was surprised when we pulled into a graveled road that led into a spacious garden area. There were lots of small cottages set amongst the grass and shrubs, each one seemed to be private behind small walls that separated them. I noticed that each of the SUVs came to a halt in front of one of them, but that the cottages were next to each other.

I followed Ranger out through his open door and to the door of a cottage. Once inside I looked around surprised how nice the place was.

"This is step up from the last cottage in the woods we stayed at"

Ranger actually smiled as I said that, as he remembered that awful night.

"Yes, and I know the neighbors will be quiet"

It was only then that I noticed that Les and Ram hadn't come in with us, so assumed Ranger and I had the place to ourselves. Now why did that give a warm fuzzy feeling all of a sudden?

"You must be hungry?"

I supposed I should be, but as I thought about it, I wasn't. In fact, I had a small niggle in my stomach.

"Babe, what's wrong?"

"Maybe I'm tired"

"Or"

I saw how he was looking at me and I knew straight away that I wasn't going to get away what I'd said, but how do I explain what it was that was worrying me?

"I, err, don't feel hungry"

"What else is worrying you?"

"The tracker"

I spat that out as though it would answer everything and then instantly regretted it because I knew Ranger wouldn't know what on earth I was talking about.

"Sorry. Les kinda gave me his tracker and I ended up swallowing it"

If I was surprised when he laughed out loud, I wasn't going to show it. Instead I stood there with my hands on my hips because I was annoyed that he was laughing at me. When he looked up and saw my stance, he calmed his laughing down.

"I'm not laughing because you swallowed the tracker Babe, I'm laughing because now I know why he was griping in the car"

My mood deflated as he said that but as I watched him, I saw him starting to think things through, shit, now he would be wondering how I ended up swallowing it.

"How did he get to you without that man seeing something?"

"He kissed me. He knew that they'd somehow try and kill him so he gave me his tracker so you could find me"

"I don't know if I want to kill him or hug him"

I walked to him and put my arms around his waist.

"Don't do either, just thank him"

"So you're worried that the tracker is making you feel a bit ill?"

"Yeah, I suppose I am"

"It wouldn't cause you any discomfort, but I think I know what is doing it"

I suppose maybe it was because I was hungry, I knew I hadn't eaten very much at dinner the night before and had nothing at all today.

"I'll have something to eat"

The meal we had was from the on-site restaurant that provided guests with the option of take away. Okay, once I smelt the large cheesy pizza, I was a goner. It had to be on a par with Pinos for taste and content. I had to admit I was totally full and had to leave the last slice on my plate. Ranger of course had a Greek salad that he said was good but as soon as we had finished tidying away our dishes, I heard someone at the door.

A look to Ranger and it was obvious that he knew who it was, but I was just a little worried that it might be Les and knowing him he was bound to rib Ranger about the tracker and how it had got inside of me.

I was surprised when we ended up with all the guys here, not so much that Les ate the last slice of pizza. As everyone found somewhere to sit, I ended up on Rangers knee and snuggled up to hear what was going on. As usual each man told us what they'd found out, starting with Hector.

"The jeep was left, no one came for it. I checked on the satellite images and there are few large houses around. We'll need to check records to find out who owns them"

"Ram, did you talk to Tank?"

"Yeah. Rangeman is more than secure now. Tank's dropped us to alert 2 but he's brought in some help from Miami, some of the veterans who know what they're doing"

"How's Dax?"

Ram smiled back at me as I asked after Dax, I'd been so worried that he'd been seriously hurt.

"He's fine Steph. The bullet hit his chest, but his vest saved him. He has one hell of a bruise and will be on light duty for a while"

I hadn't realized that the men would be wearing vests, but I suppose if Rangeman was under attack it seemed the sensible thing to do. Maybe that vest that Hector gave me would be worn a lot more from now on.

"Santos"

"The helicopter blew just after takeoff, though I was sure I heard a gun fire"

"You did Les, I heard it as well and I know I'm not good with recognizing the sounds different guns make but I could swear it sounded the same as the one at Toronto airport and the one that killed Hayes"

"Zero did Daniel get back to you with ballistics of those bullets?"

"Yes. Same weapon fired both bullets and he thinks it was an M107"

I wasn't sure what that meant or if it was significant but didn't dare ask as the conversation moved to the next topic.

"Okay, are we set up for the morning?"

Now I was rivetted to what Ranger was asking because I was hoping that this was the plan for me to be able to talk to Jack. I didn't want to talk to him on my own though, I wasn't quite ready for that yet.

"Jack Richard's in a private hospital just outside New York. The best thing is to drive straight there in the morning. Tank's arranged with his doctor for him to have 2 visitors and explained that Steph needs the meeting as much as Richards does in terms of Steph moving forward and Richards improving mental health"

I wasn't too sure if Tank knew about the incident that I'd had with Jack, but I suppose he was aware of my reaction to him when Jack had turned up unexpectedly. I kept quiet now and hoped the rest of the guys simply assumed that it sounded like a good reason to give a doctor in order to get to see him. My worry was that Liam or whoever was working with him weren't looking for Jack.

"Ranger, Bobby's keeping surveillance at the hospital"

"Good"

"Transport for tomorrow"
It was then that I felt a small cramp in my lower abdomen and squirmed slightly as I sat on Ranger's knee. Whilst he looked to Cal and Binkie who were talking, he whispered in my ear.

"There are some things in a bag in the bedroom"

I sure was embarrassed as I excused myself from the room, because I wasn't too sure if Ranger actually knew what the problem was that I was having. Maybe he thought that my discomfort was because of my stomach and he thought I needed the toilet. Once in the bedroom I found a bag on the bed and was surprised to find clothes and cosmetics for me and in one of the pockets my brand of tampons. I took a change of clothes with me into the bathroom, finding soft fluffy towels and a robe to put on over my sleepwear.

Once I'd finished in the shower and dried off, I looked in the mirror to try and do something with my wet hair. I looked pale, but then I had for a few weeks now. The dark circles under my eyes were gone and the scratches and small bruise on my cheek was healing. Even the bumps on my head had gone down so now I was left with a shoulder that still felt a bit weak and a cut on my arm and one where Dax had to remove the tracker from.

As I moved back into the bedroom finger combing my hair I thought maybe if I lay down for 5 minutes, I'd feel better. To be honest I wasn't feeling much discomfort

I felt strange waking up because I was laid curled up with something warm at my stomach and at my back. I could feel a weight across my hips that seemed to be holding something to my stomach, but I had no idea what it was. As I stretched slightly, I felt a kiss on the back of my neck and my hair being swept to one side.

"How are you feeling Babe?"

"Better. Thank you for bringing things here for me"

"I know your cycle, so knew you'd be needing them. There's also a new pack of pills in there somewhere that Ella found"

"How did you know?"

"The pill makes you regular so it's easy to work it out. Plus, I have to admit it's not always easy being around you when it's that time"

"PMS. Hell am I so obvious"

"Oh yes, even some of the guys are working that one out. Though this time you've been amazingly even tempered"

Now that made me feel extremely embarrassed and maybe slightly guilty. The one good thing though was that my period had arrived. I'd had a few occasions over the last few weeks when I was sure I hadn't taken my daily pill and when Carlos and I had made love we'd never used a condom. I was on the pill so why would we? I wondered if Ranger had worked that one out because I was sure that having children was definitely not part of his life plans.

That I was there at all made me feel so warm and full of love for him. I turned my head slightly and felt his lips on my cheeks. I hadn't planned on opening my mouth and saying anything, maybe it was me thinking out loud, but I said what I felt in my heart.

"I love you Carlos"

I felt his head lift away from me and almost groaned at how stupid I'd been until I heard him say.

"I love you too, Amo con todo lo que soy"

I squirmed a bit and realized that I needed to use the bathroom. As I moved, I noticed that Ranger was holding a hot water bottle to my stomach, God, this man was so amazing with the things that he did for me.

The journey to New York went without a hitch. No one following us and Bobby assured us that Jack hadn't had any visitors nor was there anything unusual happening in the vicinity of the hospital. We'd stopped on route at a small diner where we had some breakfast and met Miguel. Miguel had with him some suitable clothes for us to wear for our visit.

I was surprised when we pulled up and parked in front of the building we were going into. For some reason I'd assumed a private clinic would have been set in its own grounds and was surprised that it looked like an historic building. As Ranger and I walked from the car along the sidewalk to the entrance I was intrigued by the architecture, thinking that it didn't look anything like a hospital or clinic from the outside.

Once inside the difference made me think I was in a totally different place. The receptionist was sat behind a shiny back desk in the shape of a semi-circle. As we approached, she looked up and smiled at us, or should I say she smiled at Ranger and totally ignored me.

As I stood back and looked at Ranger, I couldn't blame her really. He was wearing a dark grey suit that that looked to be hand made, because it fit him so well. His hair was loose down to his shoulders and as he turned to me those deep brown eyes were looking at me. Yeah, he was drop dead gorgeous and he was mine, all mine. I walked up to him knowing the woman was watching me and wrapped my arms around his waist, kissing him lightly on his lips, that turned up into a half smile.

"You staking a claim Babe?"

"Damn right I am"

We both turned as a door opened and an elderly man walked through the door and held his hand to Ranger as he introduced himself.

"Mr Manoso. Doctor Felton. I assume that this is Miss Plum?"

As he turned to me his hand was already reaching toward me, so I took it and smiled back. His hand shake was formal and short, much as he looked, and he was soon turning from us and heading back through the door he'd come through.

"If you'd follow me then we can get Jack to meet with you. He's looking forward to seeing you, so I hope this meeting is as productive for him as it is for you"

"How is Jack?"

"He's well Miss Plum, other than that I cannot tell you. Patient confidentiality"

I expected as much but I was curious as who would decide when he was ready to go back into the world. We took an elevator up to the top floor and again followed Doctor Fenton down a corridor. As he opened a door, I realized he was showing us into a large conservatory that had been built on the rooftop. Sat at one of the tables was Jack, who noticed us as soon as the door opened.

"Jack, your visitors are here"

"Thanks, Michael"

Jack used a hand to indicate that we should sit down and then started to pour coffee from the pot, placed in the center of the table, into four different colored mugs. I was surprised when the doctor sat down as well, I didn't realize that he was going to stay for this conversation.

"It looks a nice place here Jack"

"It is. Look I know you'd not be here if you didn't have to be"

"I wanted to talk to you about someone"

"I'm not sure I can help you out there Steph"

I could feel Ranger tense next to me, he was feeling the antagonism from Jack as well. What the hell did Jack think we were here for and why was he looking to make this difficult. It was Ranger who spoke next, even though we'd agreed that I would talk to Jack as maybe he'd be more open to that.

"Jack, Liam tried to kidnap Steph"

I suppose being direct wouldn't hurt and it certainly got Jack's attention.

"Why would he do that?"

"He tried to kill 2 of my men as well, so we need your help Jack"

I could see that Jack was thinking through what he wanted to say, maybe trying to decide what to say and what to leave out.

"Jack, you don't have to talk about anything you don't want to. I know we haven't really discussed the role Liam had in your life, so it's up to you"

Okay that meant that Liam must be important to Jack or at least more than just a work colleague as I thought. I watched Jack think through what the doctor had said and then as he turned to him.

"Doctor, I think I need to do this, but I don't want you here. I'll talk to you about it at our next session"

"Are you sure Jack?"

"Yes, I'm sure"

We all watched as the doctor stood with the mug in his hand and left through the door. I turned to Jack, not sure why he'd done that.

"I don't know why Liam would do that to you Steph, except maybe he's not the only one that is affected by you"

Why was it these men had a way of trying to make me the one that was responsible for the way they behaved toward me? I closed my eyes before I said something that would really upset Jack and decided to ignore his comment.

"How long have you known Liam for?"

"I've known him for years, but it was only two years ago that we came across each other so I asked him to join our team"

I was curious because Liam had mentioned that Jack's wife had something to do with what happened, so how did Liam know about Rosa?

"Did Liam know Rosa?"

"No, she'd was gone when I reconnected with Liam"

"He said that he was worried I'd tie him to the murders"

I saw the shock in Jack's face, he was puzzled by what I'd said.

"You mean the murder of Jinski?"

"There are at least six women that have been murdered. They all died the same way. The FBI thought it was Jinski, which is why they were after catching him. I, err, started to look into it and somehow I'm now on the killer's radar"

"You think Liam is involved?"

"He knew we'd reopened the cases"

"I can't believe what you're saying"

"Jack, I know this is going to be hard for you, but Liam mentioned that Rosa had everything to do with what's happened"

There was total silence after I'd said that, maybe I hadn't led up to saying that subtly enough or maybe I just wanted to shock Jack out the mindset he seemed to be in.

"I'm sure he didn't know her"

"Jack, tell me about Rosa"

He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, I'm sure with all sorts of memories going through his head.

"How did you meet her?"

"I was on leave from the army and spent some well-earned R and R in Paris. I decided to do the tourist thing and was in the Louvre and somehow got caught in with an American group. She was part of the group and once I'd spoken to her that was it. We spent all our time together while we were in Paris and I suppose fell in love. She went home to the States and I finished my time with the army, but we kept in touch, grabbing any time we could together. Once I'd finished, I headed over here and we got married then looked for work. I started the company up with Luke and Rosa asked to be part of it"

"Then you took the case with a young boy who'd been kidnapped?"

"Yes. After I knew she'd died it took a while for me to get my head around it. Luke pushed me to get back to work and that's when we took Liam on"

"How long ago did Rosa disappear?"

"Nearly six years ago"

"So how did you meet Liam?"

"Army. We sometimes worked together but we weren't exactly friends, just soldiers following orders"

"He was British?"

Jack nodded his head and smiled.

"He hated his accent and spent time practicing to get rid of it"

I had never picked up on that. I mean he just sounded American to me, though I couldn't place his accent from anywhere in particular.

"How did you come across him over here?"

"Convention down in Washington. Luke and I had a stand there and Liam walked over and started to chat"

"Did he have family over here or somewhere he would go to when he wasn't working?"

"I don't know. He tended to travel a lot overseas so was always talking about the places he'd been and the women he'd met"

I couldn't work out why Liam would say Rosa was involved in this. He hadn't been around Jack when Rosa was alive, so how the hell did Liam know Rosa. Of course, it was Ranger who asked the most obvious question, one that I knew would be important but had totally forgotten to ask.

"What was Liam's full name?"

"Liam Sanders, he made Captain in the army, but I have no idea when he left. We never talked about our time as soldiers, too much shit went down that needed to be forgotten about"

As Jack said that he looked at Ranger and I'm sure in that instant they both knew what he was talking about. I finished the coffee in my cup feeling that we had probably learned as much as we were going to. I heard the door open and saw that the doctor was back and realized that our visit was over.

"Steph, I'm sorry that I hurt you. I think being here is helping. I never really acknowledged that she was gone, I was always looking for her, seeing her face in the crowd. I hope some of the answers I gave will help you to find what you're looking for"

"Thank you for agreeing to see us"

Jack stood first and made for the door with the doctor waiting for Ranger and me. He made sure we left the building, but never said anything to us, except a polite goodbye. Les was still with the car when we got back to it and as he started the engine looked over to Ranger who was sat next to him.

"Where to?"

I knew that I would be nervous to start with but really there was only one place that we needed to go to, so it was me that answered to Les.

"Rangeman"

"Are you sure Babe?"

"Yes"

As we drove through the city and onto the highway there was one thing that I knew I had to ask. I'd put off asking it not sure if I wanted the answer, of course denial provided me with the perfect escape. Now though it was time to ask.

"Did I kill him?"

Les looked in the rear-view mirror at me and Ranger turned around in his seat.

"Kill who?"

"Liam. I mean I know I lost it with him, but I was so upset and annoyed I couldn't stop"

"No, he wasn't there when Hector went to check"

"I'm not sure whether to be relieved that he's alive or sorry that he's not dead"

"He won't hurt you again Babe"

"No chance Beautiful. He owes me and I'm going to collect for what he did"

I had no doubt about that, Les would be annoyed that Liam had gotten the upper hand. At least Liam would assume that Les was dead, but what had happened to the rifle shooter? Had they just watched everything, or had they left assuming their job was done?

"Can you hire marksmen?"

"Why would you ask that Babe?"

"Well whoever it was shot at the helicopter just as it was taking off. If they'd hung around, they could have easily taken a shot at Les when he came over to me or when we ran for the trees. They would have gone to check on Liam surely, unless"

"They were hired for a job and when the job was done, they left"

"Exactly"

"Good call Babe"

I watched as Ranger and Les exchanged looks wondering how they would find that out, no doubt they might know of people like that or know who to ask. I knew that as soon as we got back to Rangeman I wanted to start looking for Liam, try to work out where he fit in. Maybe there was a connection between him and Lyn Blanchard that I hadn't seen as yet.