Chapter Thirteen
Reyes and Natasha rolled into the RangeMan office around 10AM. Neither Roman nor Montero were there, which meant they were probably still interrogating the guards from last night.
Without that information, the only thing to focus on was Starvos' other location or locations. Natasha and Reyes spent the day combing through the data and by late afternoon it had yielded a likely location on the eastern shore.
Montero and Roman rolled in a little later. Nikko had ridden up in the elevator with them. Natasha thought that was progress. Montero looked surprisingly relaxed. Riding in an elevator with two assassins might have made a lesser man look a little peaked.
The guards had given up the location where they were supposed to take the girls. It was an estate near St. Michaels, Maryland that sat on the Miles River. It wasn't far from the Starvos property.
They figured the easiest way to take a look at the estate would be by boat. They would do that tomorrow. As counter intuitive as it might have seemed, a boat fishing in broad daylight would draw less attention than a boat on the river at night. So far nothing suggested Vlad's arrival was imminent. He was still safely ensconced in his estate in Hungary.
The Starvos estate was a different story. It looked to be a house and several out buildings with one road in and no water access. Nighttime surveillance would be best.
Montero left to manage the transfer of the guards. He was keeping their location and identity out of the system.
"Roman you should get some rest. Reyes now that we know the pattern take a look and see if there are any other properties that pop up. Nikko and I will go check out Starvos. It will take us a couple of hours to drive there so we will leave after dark and plan to be back around dawn." Natasha said.
Reyes was looking at the aerial map of the Starvos property. "Three would be better."
"I'll go with them." Everyone's head popped up. Ranger was standing in the doorway.
Natasha and Nikko looked at each other for a beat. Finally, Nikko nodded. "OK."
Ranger came in and Nikko, Natasha and Ranger went over the plan and studied the aerial photos.
"I don't like this approach" Nikko said. "Basically, the only thing between the road and the property is barren field. There is almost no cover."
"I think for tonight we stay at a distance. Unless we have reason to check the outbuildings and the property closer, it is too risky." Ranger said. "We can park here and walk in. It looks like this small stand of trees is our best bet. We can set up here and do recon, then hike back out. The only way to get closer is to engage the guards." Ranger was pointing out locations on the map as he talked.
Nikko, Natasha and Ranger studied the photos some more. If they wanted to stay undetected that was the best they could do.
"It's getting late. Everyone should take a few hours and meet back here at 11 PM." Natasha said.
Ranger followed Natasha out of the conference room. "Nat, we have to talk." Ranger kept his voice low.
Natasha nodded. "Same place?"
Ranger nodded yes. Natasha went back into the conference room and picked up the package that had been couriered over to her. Reyes was watching her. He a saw Ranger head to the elevator.
"I'm going to get some rest" she said. Reyes just raised his eyebrows at her.
"OK, I'm going to met Ranger. We need to talk." She gave him the death glare. Why was she incapable of lying to Reyes?
"See darlin' that wasn't so hard now was it."
"Are you going to follow me?" She asked.
Reyes thought about it for a beat. "No. Do what you need to do, but I'd really like it if you came to my apartment when you were done." He held her gaze.
"Really?" Her voice sounded uncertain.
"Very much." Reyes replied. Natasha nodded and headed for the elevator.
Natasha met Ranger at the FDR memorial.
"Nikko told you?" Natasha stated.
"Yes" Ranger replied. "You should have told me."
"What was there to tell Carlos? Woodward would have killed you. The deal was no contact. You were safer that way. If I had tried to tell you what would you have done? Tried to fix it? Gotten yourself killed?" Natasha was looking at him with the you know I'm right look. Ranger couldn't really argue with the logic, given what he now knew.
"Look Carlos, there was no handbook for this kind of stuff? Seriously? How many people are sucked into the web of a corrupt CIA handler? Nikko and I were targets because we lived and operated in the gray. You had a family. You had a future. I wasn't going to rob you of that. You got hurt because of me."
"Is that what you think? That you were not as valuable? Ranger asked.
"You and I both know not all lives are equal. Come on, you have been in this business long enough to know that." Natasha sounded exasperated.
"Why didn't you make contact in Trenton?" Ranger figured the Woodward stuff was a dead end. Nat was right, what was done was done. She had saved his life and for that he should just be grateful. He couldn't go back and change what had happened. Ranger thought despite it all, she had turned into an amazing woman. Nat was always a survivor.
"Because it was clear you were in love Carlos. You and Stephanie Plum were living together. Look, you deserved to be happy. My showing up could have only messed that up."
"And I loved you Nat. You were my wife. I searched for you for years!" Ranger shook his head. Anger wouldn't solve this, he needed to get himself under control. "Nat you are still my wife."
"No, Carlos I'm not." Natasha interrupted him and handed him an envelope.
Ranger opened it up. Inside there were two documents. One was civil annulment papers and the other was a Sacra Rota annulment from the Ecclesiastical Court. Both were dated just months after they had been married over a decade ago. Ranger was pretty sure Nat had worked some of her hacker magic with the date.
"Turns out Nikko must have gotten my birthdate wrong. You know the problem with forged documents and all." Natasha shrugged. "I wasn't eighteen when we got married. I was seventeen. Our marriage was a void marriage in the eyes of both the Italian government and the Catholic church. We were never married Carlos. You're free and clear. You always were."
The implication wasn't lost on Ranger. When he asked Steph to marry him four years earlier, he had been free and clear according to this little piece of paper. In fact, even though his marriage to Rachel was more of a business transaction than a marriage, when he had married Rachel to give Julie his name, he had no entanglements.
After Carlos had gone to Italy, Natasha knew what had to be done. Carlos deserved a clean slate. They both did. So, she had started the ball rolling. It had been a tedious process. It was like following every thread on a spider web. It took months to find and correct birthdates and update documents. In some cases, she had to break in and physically replace documents. That was one of the upsides and the downsides of not having electronic records.
Then it took months for the decision by the civil and Ecclesiastical courts. Finally, both had granted the request. Thankfully back dating the documents had been blessedly easy. Now it was done. Nikko had replaced the records in their original form at the parish church and the local diocesan archive in Italy a few days ago. Their mistake corrected. Their history erased.
She had toyed with just removing the records entirely, but these things had a way of growing tentacles. Copies existed that no one thought of, people remembered things. Pictures existed. Carlos was Catholic, and she knew his faith was important to him. Just removing the records wouldn't have set well with Carlos and wouldn't have solved the problem in his mind. She rationalized the only thing that she had really falsified was the date of the annulment.
Really all she had done was just set the date to what it should have been in first place. If their lives hadn't been disrupted, they would have dissolved their union years ago if it had happened at all. Probably. Or, they would still be married. Natasha shook her head to dislodge that thought. Thoughts like that had a way of becoming regrets. No one could go back and change the past, but they could protect the future.
Ranger shook his head. "But Nat, I don't want to just pretend what we had didn't exist. I loved you. I still love you."
"Come on Carlos. Woodward was filling your head with crazy lies. You and I had never even talked about marriage before Venice. If Woodward hadn't have happened, we would have never gotten married. I know in your heart you know that. I was the girl you fell in love with as a teenager. Stephanie is the woman you fell in love with as an adult. Those are different kinds of love Carlos."
"I don't know." Ranger was shaking his head.
"Ok, Carlos. Let's play your what-if game. I'm here. I love you and I want to be together. What do you say to that?" She said it with false bravado, because deep down she knew it just might have a small kernel of truth to it.
Ranger thought about it for a minute. "I'd say I love Steph, but I feel like I'm betraying you."
Natasha nodded. "But you are not betraying me. Separate out the Woodward shit show from your feelings. You don't owe me anything. You were my family and I was never going to let Woodward harm you. I made a choice and I don't regret it for a minute. Why? Because you are a good man. A husband and a father.
Loving Stephanie is not a betrayal. You moved on with your life and you fell in love with a pretty amazing woman. You didn't cheat on me, you didn't leave me. You didn't do anything wrong. I disappeared from your life, remember?
Our relationship would have ended naturally if the Woodward stuff hadn't happened. I know you know that. People move on all the time. Especially from childhood crushes.
I know you love me and I love you, but both of us know there are all kinds of love Carlos. There is no reason for the past to destroy your present or your future."
"But what about you?" Ranger asked.
"Me, well I get to be younger. Nothing wrong with that! And, I get to move on with my life too." Move on to what Natasha had no idea. She was free and clear of Woodward, Vlad would soon be gone. For the first time in her adult life, she could do anything she wanted, and that was terrifying. She had no idea what she wanted.
"I really don't want you to just disappear out of my life again Nat. I'd like for us to at least stay friends." Ranger said.
Nat gave a negative shake of her head. Rangers heart dropped. "No Carlos, we can't stay friends. You want to know why? Because you are my family and you will always be my family. Of course, I'm going to be in your life." She reached for Ranger and they hugged.
"That may make for some awkward holidays" Ranger said and laughed. Nat and Ranger laughed until they cried.
They both knew things weren't completely settled, but they were on the way to putting the past where it belonged. In the past. Natasha didn't know what Ranger would tell Stephanie, if he told her anything, but whatever it turned out to be Natasha would be OK with it.
She knew Carlos had grown into the man he had because of what had happened, she just wished he hadn't needed to. But then again, if Carlos wasn't Ranger, he might never have met Stephanie. So maybe things turned out just the way they were supposed to.
Ranger headed back to RangeMan. He didn't really know how he felt. He finally had answers after all these years. The truth was far crazier and more horrific than he had ever imagined. Nat hadn't left him, and run off with Nikko. She'd saved him. They'd both saved him. They'd all done what needed to be done. Nat was right about that.
His relationship with Nat was officially over. He guessed he should be glad about that. He wasn't so sure that Nat was right though. Ranger didn't think his relationship with Nat would have ended on its own. He might have been young, but Nat was wrong. He had absolutely loved that woman. Maybe she would have outgrown him, and then again maybe they would have already celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary. Woodward had certainly changed the trajectory of all their lives. Maybe for the better in some ways, maybe not.
What Ranger did know was he couldn't go back and change the past. That part of his life was over. He hoped he could mend fences with Nat and Nikko. Only time would tell on that one. Ranger looked up at the RangeMan building. He wasn't sure how he had gotten so lucky or even if he deserved to be so lucky, but he knew he was lucky.
The one thing he was completely sure of was that he loved Steph. She was his rock, his salvation, his miracle. She made him a better person, but he was a work in progress. He knew he wasn't an easy person to love. He had been afraid if Steph knew all his secrets, she wouldn't love him. He guessed he was about to find out.
But right now, he needed to get ready for tonight's surveillance. He couldn't go back and fix things with Nat, but he could help her get Vlad. Give her some peace. Give her some justice.
Reyes heard a knock at the door and his heart did a little stutter. He hadn't really expected her to show up. He opened the door and she was standing there. She looked so small and vulnerable.
"Are you Ok?" Reyes asked.
A lone tear popped out and ran down her cheek. "I will be" she said.
Reyes pulled her inside and into his arms.
A couple of hours later, Ranger, Nikko and Natasha drove to the eastern shore. They parked the SUV off the road and grabbed their gear to hike in. Nikko had been right, it was basically a barren field and they were largely sitting ducks as they made their way across the field closer to the buildings. The cloud cover helped, but it was not ideal. They would get as close as they dared.
They had just reached the stand of trees, when flood lights came on and they heard the unmistakable sound of shouting and ATVs starting.
They were more than a football field away from the house, but they must have tripped a perimeter sensor somewhere. Who the fuck put a perimeter sensor this far out? This was definitely not good. Two ATVS were headed their way and three guys with dogs. The dogs were going to be the real problem.
Natasha knew the best chance they had was for one of them to give themselves up and distract the guards while the other two slipped away. She looked at Nikko. Whether he wanted to admit it or not he loved the doctor and she loved him. She looked at Ranger, yeah, that wasn't even an option. Ranger was married to Stephanie and she was about to have his babies.
She took a deep breath. They had seconds before all three of them were screwed.
"Look one of us needs to distract them." She said and started to get up to run.
Ranger and Nikko both pulled her down hard. "No!" they hissed in unison.
Ranger grasp her face in his hands. "Nat, you are important. You always were. You are not expendable." He kissed her forehead. "I'm sorry I ever made you think you were."
Ranger got up and ran parallel to them until he was far enough to draw the guards attention.
Natasha tried to grab him but he was already gone. "No, don't!"
Nikko pulled her back and started pulling her away in the opposite direction. "Natasha we can't help him if we are caught or dead. We have to move now, while they are distracted."
Natasha looked back one more time. The guards had surrounded him and one of them slammed a rifle butt in Ranger's stomach. They were pushing him towards the outbuilding.
Natasha and Nikko slipped off into the darkness to regroup and figure how to save Ranger. Ranger had sacrificed himself for both of them. And if they got him back, Natasha was going to kill him. What had he been thinking? Of the three of them he had the most to live for.
"Natasha we all signed up for the same risk here." Nikko said, reading her thoughts. Natasha just glared at him.
Nikko sighed. "We will get him back. I promise."
"We have to Nikko, we have to." Nikko had never broken a promise to her in his life. She really hoped this wasn't going to be the first time.