Chapter 33

RPOV

I had lunged forward from the building in an attempt to get hold of Steph. But even as I reached the car, the door had closed and was speeding away. I crouched low as I scanned the street. I was sure that I'd heard, no felt the sound of a bullet as it passed me. As soon as the door to that car closed and it sped away, I was turning to the Rangeman building looking for transport that would surely come quickly. I'd pressed my panic button the minute I saw the car screech to a stop on the street. I was still watching as it raced away down the street and was then on my feet opening the passenger door of one of my cars before it had even stopped. My eyes never left where the car had gone, and I was willing for us to drive faster. Even as we seemed to make up the distance, I couldn't see the car ahead of us.

"Binkie and Junior are heading in from the opposite direction. What are we looking for?"

"Dark blue Nissan Rogue, looked new"

"Plates?"

As Santos asked that I realized that I hadn't seen any on the car or anything else that might help to identify it.

"Ranger, anything to help us to identify it, driver or passenger?"

I closed my eyes as I tried to recall exactly what I'd seen. The driver I think was older but only because I'd caught a glimpse of a man with grey hair and the person who had pulled Steph from the street was younger. He'd been strong and had dark skin, though not as dark as me.

"Two men, one older. The younger one in the back seat looked dark skinned and with short dark hair. He was well built and almost lifted Steph with one hand"

"Ram said he was sure he heard a shot just as Steph disappeared"

I remembered that but at the time was more focused on keeping my eyes on the car, now though it was obviously all part of what had happened. Was it to stop me from reaching Steph?

"There was. Did he see where it came from?"

"He thought it came from one of the roof tops, but Tank's on that"

To be honest I wasn't as concerned with that as I was in finding Steph. The only thought passing through my mind was wondering who the shooter was aiming for.

"Steph's tracker"

Thinking that it was bound to lead us to where she was.

"It went off line. Hector thinks that it may have been damaged. Her bag was on the street where she must have dropped it"

Damn it, did that mean that whoever had her knew about her having trackers on her? How would they know that unless they used a scanner?

"Two other cars joining the search, no one's seeing anything that matches the car Ranger"

I couldn't see how a car could just disappear, but I suppose if he knew how to lose a tail then it would be possible. I slammed my fist down on the dashboard annoyed that I'd allowed someone to take Steph right from under my nose and that I was struggling to find her.

"Head back to Rangeman"

Came from my mouth as I slammed my fist down on the dashboard. I felt defeated, I'd let Steph down the first time that she'd left the building.

"Hector was pulling up footage from our cameras and any he could access"

Maybe that would be the only way we'd be able to identify who had taken Steph, because only then did we have a hope in hell of finding her.

Once back at Rangeman I think every man I employed was on the fifth floor. Hector had taken over one of the conference rooms and as he found a blue Nissan through any of the street cams, he was printing out a photo for someone to pick up and follow up on. I hadn't realized just how many of those damn cars were driving around on the streets and as time went by knew that any seen now wouldn't be the one that had taken Steph. I looked at the photo taken by our cameras at the front of the building but like everyone else couldn't see anything that would help to identify it. I watched as Tank came into the room and judging from his expression, I'd say he hadn't found anything useful.

"We may have found where the shooter was. Same side of the street as us but beyond our cameras. There were some marks on the edge of the roof but nothing else. The building's empty so no witnesses to seeing someone"

The thought I'd had before came to me so I voiced my concern, knowing that Tank would probably have as little idea as me.

"Who was he shooting at. Steph, me or the men in the car?"

"Difficult to say Ranger"

I turned as Ram came into the room with several sheets of paper in his hand. Surely it couldn't be that difficult to find one car in this city, one car that would help us to get a lead on where Steph had been taken.

"Boss, five of these cars that are on the street are rentals, three have checked out"

"The other two Ram?"

"The GPS on one puts it down in Philadelphia and it's been there since yesterday, so maybe tourists, but we can't locate the last one"

"Who rented it?"

"Id is false, they used the name Williams. The copy of the photo on the id they used is grainy, but it shows a young guy that could fit the description you gave us"

"Address false as well?"

"Yeah. Turns out it's a homeless center"

I couldn't understand why a rental car was being used when the men that we had come across when we were ambushed at Sophia's apartment were all four-wheel drive SUVs and top of the range with full equipment. Who the hell had taken Steph or were there more players in this game than I knew about?

My mind went back to the diner and why Steph had ended up on the street ahead of me. Shit, it was because I was thinking about that last mission and the fact that she'd been researching Yemen. I just wasn't sure if it was relevant to what had happened to Steph and didn't want to say anything to her until I was surer of myself. I should have said something to her rather than just refusing to say anything. There was also the issue that any mission I went on was confidential and telling anyone the focus of the job could get me into serious trouble. So why didn't I just say that to her?

The outcome of that mission had suited my bosses, but I felt that we were missing something, and it was that that had caused me to be so annoyed when I got back to Washington. The job had been simple enough. Infiltrate myself in with the locals and then identify where a group of men were who had arrived in the area in Yemen and find out who was giving them their orders.

Finding the group and where they were hiding out had been simple and to be honest the younger men involved were naïve and behaved irresponsibly. They'd come into the village to find supplies and pushed their weight around with the locals, trying to intimidate them.

The team that came in once I had all of my intel put a stop to that group of men and hopefully closed down whatever it was that they were planning. Yeah, the higher generals, as they called themselves, who were giving the orders and organizing for transport and receiving money, conveniently disappeared, courtesy of that team.

The part that was bothering me when I was recalled home, was that there were some men that I'd seen but they seemed to keep themselves separate from the group that were eventually disposed of. I'd tried to find them, but no one I spoke to could help and I couldn't find out where they had gone. I was sure that there was a second group working in the shadows of the targeted group, but my bosses made the executive decision that we'd completed what we'd set out to do, so the job was finished and recorded as successful.

Anger was surging through me as I watched the men going about their work. Anger at myself that I'd been so stupid to close down on her. This was my fault, no doubt about it and along with the anger crawled the icy tentacles of fear. I hadn't been able to protect Steph from being taken and was now so afraid of where she was and who had her. The real possibility that I might lose her wasn't a new emotion for me but this time it hit me deeper than it had done in the past and if I didn't know better then I would say that panic was my new companion. The relationship that I already had with Steph had moved to another level and I had welcomed it. She had become the center of my world, the air that I breathed. I couldn't even consider what would become of me if I lost her now.

I closed my eyes and steadied my breathing, telling myself that those emotions wouldn't be of any help now, though that was a hell of lot easier said than done. I opened my eyes and scanned around the room. The atmosphere was tense and although I knew every man was working as hard as they could I could feel the anger and despair that prevailed around me. It wasn't just me that was feeling like this.

Santos was hunched over a laptop his face set in stone, Hector was working at the laptop his face focused on the screen. Ram was moving stiffly around the room with papers, hell all these seasoned men had were trying to hide their feelings from what was happening. My Babe wasn't just the woman their boss had fallen in love with, she was the woman who had touched the heart and souls of everyone here. She was the light we all looked that lightened our dark souls.

Bobby was watching me curiously from across the room telling me that he aware of the feelings withing the room and probably was ready to take me on knowing that the beast within was close to the surface. He wasn't wrong. A voice permeated my thinking, bringing my mind back to my surroundings.

"Boss, a strange call just came into reception"

I turned and looked at Hal, not sure what the hell that had to do with anything. I know I was looking at him as though I might beat the shit out of him. I watched as he paled slightly but give him his due, though, he stood his ground against me.

"The message said, I have a special delivery for you, but you'll need to come and collect it. 40.0479° N, 74.4760° W"

I didn't need to think and just reacted to that information and was rushing out of the door shouting orders as I went, for teams to move out and mobilize. Every man turned and was immediately behind me all of us spurred into action. I gave my orders even as I was running down the stairs knowing that they would follow into hell if it meant getting Steph back. Once kitted out with vests, weapons, earbuds and mics five teams were ready to go. Six men to take position at locations around the area and four men to go in.

Hector remained behind to find the location and I had no doubt that by the time we left the garage we would have the location. As I looked at the map that Hector had sent through, I was surprised at where we were being sent. It looked as though we were being sent to a remote area of the pine barrens. Not an area that I was that familiar with, but I knew enough to know that it would be difficult approaching it without being seen. Unless of course the three teams went through the forest on foot.

Once we were on our way the vehicles split up and took evasive action. No one car took the same route as another and were all ordered to be on the lookout for tails. No way did we want anyone following us. I listened as Tank radioed in with an update, not surprised at what he was saying.

"Ranger, this place is in the middle of nowhere. Suggest we park up and go in on foot"

"Agreed. Team alpha and bravo will go in on the track. Be prepared for a trap"

"We'll need time to get into position, will relay when ready"

I knew that meant that we'd need to slow down, that we needed all the teams to be in place before I reached the coordinates that we'd been sent. I wasn't happy with that because it was more time that Steph was in trouble for. That was assuming that she was even there. This could very well be a distraction or even a trap. A distraction from continuing our search for her.

It had been four hours since Steph had been taken and my nerves were wearing thin, I was so worried for her. Thinking that she had been taken by that man or even Tasha sent a cold shiver down my spine. I had to stop myself from thinking that because if that was the case then it would break Steph, if she survived. That would break me because it was my fault that she'd walked out of that diner ahead of me. When I saw the look in her eyes after I told her that I couldn't tell her what I was thinking, I knew that she was hurting and could tell that she was also annoyed at me or maybe she had felt betrayed at what I had said. It was guilt that was consuming me now because I never wanted to be responsible for hurting her like that again.

Santos was driving at a slow speed as we turned from the road and onto a track. I'd expected to hear from Tank by now and was concerned with what he may have found. I indicated for Santos to stop the car and kill the lights feeling my frustration begin to burn.

"What are we waiting for Ranger?"

"Teams to get into place"

"I'm sure I saw something just beyond the tree line"

I'd been so focused on looking ahead of us that I was surprised and annoyed with myself that I'd missed seeing something. I had to clear my head and focus on what we were doing, because I was no good to anyone letting my thoughts drift. I opened the door and removed my gun from the holster at my thigh. Quietly closing the door, I very slowly made my way toward the trees, seeing Cal following me from the car parked behind.

Was I right to be heading into the woods instead of driving directly to the coordinates? My instincts told me to do it as I looked over to where Santos was pointing to.

"Santos continue slowly down the road"

"Roger that"

As I waited until both of the cars had disappeared from sight I could almost feel that Steph close to me and very slowly made my way toward the tree line. I was sure that whoever was lurking in the trees wouldn't have seen us. Moving close to the ground, without a sound, I came to the first large tree and stood ready, looking around me. Cal was several yards further up the tree line and I watched as he mirrored my stance. As I rounded the tree, I was sure I could hear a snap that could only be from a twig breaking, followed by the rustle of leaves. My senses sharpened, prepared for an assault but what I wasn't ready for was a sweet smell assaulting my senses.

My brain immediately thought of Steph which had me worrying what I was about to find. I did something that I hadn't done for a very long time. I prayed that it was her and that she was unharmed. I wasn't even going to consider that she wasn't. I used a hand signal to Cal indicating for him to go wide and come up ahead of where I was. As I watched him disappear into the depth of the trees, I very carefully made my way to the next tree, where the sound had seemed to come from. I had my back to the tree, turning slightly to catch a glimpse of who was there, afraid that maybe there was someone holding her there.

I stopped suddenly, totally caught by surprise at what I saw. There crouched down on the ground with a blanket around her shoulders was my Babe. Her arms were wrapped around herself but even as I watched, not making a sound, I saw her hand come out from underneath the blanket and touch the back of her neck. Her head turned and she was suddenly bounding into my arms, holding me tightly as I held onto her. My hand swept down her hair to her shoulders and then ran down her arms to her waist and hips, needing to be sure that she hadn't been hurt.

"I'm okay, I wasn't hurt"

"Babe, I'm so sorry"

"No, it was my fault. I shouldn't have got into a mood"

A sound behind me had me ducking down and pulling Steph with me, the gun in my hand pointing to where the noise had come from. Seeing Cal in the clearing had me realize that no one knew that I'd found Steph and that she was safe.

"I have Steph"

"Say again"

"Steph is safe with me. Santos head back to where you dropped me off"

"We have eyes on someone"

A response from Tank that surprised me but at the moment I needed to get us out of here and back to the safety of Rangeman. Tank was more than capable of dealing with whatever situation he'd found at the cabin.

I stood and took Steph with me, surprised when she lent down and picked up what seemed to be papers. I knew we needed to get to the car and then get Steph out of here. As we reached the road, I saw the Rangeman car draw up to a stop and opened the back door for Steph. I was soon sat down with her, holding her tightly against me. I swore that I wouldn't let her out of my arms again. I noticed Cal appear on the track behind us. and knew that he would wait for his ride, but as of now I wanted to be out of here. I turned to Santos to tell him what to do.

"Get us back as fast as you can"

I felt myself relax slightly with the feel of Steph in my arms but knew that we wouldn't be out of danger until we were back inside Rangeman. Then focused on the mic and bud that I was carrying needing to find out what was happening at the rendezvous site. I would be in the mood to tear apart anyone that was found.

"Sit rep"

"One unsub, shit I recognize him"

"Explain"

"That god damn friend of yours"

I had no idea who Tank was talking about and needed more information. As it was, we'd been joined by our second car and were now heading into Trenton.

"Bag him and bring him home"

"Roger that"

I turned to look beside me and was pleased to see that Steph was fast asleep against me. Santos drove fast through the streets of Trenton and both of us were checking that we weren't being followed. I felt relief wash through me as we pulled into the Rangeman garage and the gate closed behind us. As Santos pulled up close to the back of the garage I was opening up the back door and lifted Steph as carefully as I could, pulling her close to me so that her head was resting against my shoulder. Santos had already called for the elevator, so I was soon inside and heading up to seven. As the elevator door slid open, I felt Steph move in my arms and as I looked down, I could see her eyes opening so bent down and kissed her on the head.

"It's okay Babe, you're safe now"

"Hey, I'm okay, no one hurt me"

I wasn't going to take her word for that and had messaged Bobby to meet us on seven so that he could check Steph over. As I walked through the kitchen area, I felt her turn in my arms so stopped and put her down on her feet.

"Babe?"

"I'm hungry, is there anything to eat?"

Her words helped me to believe that she was okay after her ordeal, but I also knew I wouldn't get anything from her until she'd eaten. That she was hungry and had asked for food almost had me smiling.

"I'll call Ella"

"Have you eaten?"

"No. Too busy looking for you"