Chapter 40

SPOV

My hand went to the watch on my wrist and I pushed in the button on the side. I had no intention of moving and was hoping that Ranger would soon be here. As the outside door opened, I couldn't decide if I was relieved or not. If Tasha or Beth, whatever she called herself, was leaving then I hoped that she didn't know about Ranger. I jumped as the door suddenly opened, the force sending me backward to end up sat on the toilet seat. I was about to jump up and start hitting whoever it was but stopped as I saw Lester stood there.

"Beautiful, what happened?"

"Ranger, where is he?"

If it was someone who came in to save me then it had always been Ranger.

"You pushed your panic button"

"She was here. Les, tell me that Ranger is just outside"

Maybe I was shouting now at Lester but at least he stopped and looked at me, and in that moment, he started to understand what I was asking and why.

"He was here, I thought he went to use the men's room?"

I was shaking my head as I pushed my way past Lester, out into the hallway. I looked in both directions and then headed toward a door, the door that I knew led out into the lane at the back of the restaurant. As I pushed open the door, I felt a hand on my back, pushing me down to the ground and the sudden sound of bullets hitting the wall next to me.

"Stay down"

I didn't need telling twice and squatted down with my arms over my head. Stupid really because doing that wouldn't stop a bullet. I lowered my arms to look and saw that there were parked cars protecting us from where the bullets were being fired from and none being returned. I was worried now for Hal and Woody because I was sure that Ranger had said they were covering the back.

I was aware that the gun shots had stopped and that Les had moved forward to behind a parked car. Looking around I could see Bobby and Ram behind one car and Miguel sat on the ground leant against another. The sound of an engine didn't go unnoticed by me though and I was on my feet rushing in the direction that it had gone. I didn't get far before Les wrapped his arms around my waist lifting me off my feet.

"The car, Steph, get in the car"

As he put me down a black SUV came screeching to a halt in front of us. Ram jumped into the passenger seat and Les dragged me behind him into the rear seat as the car set off at speed. Hector was driving and kept looking at the screen in the center of the console. There on the map was a black dot, and it seemed to be moving. Les saw where I was looking and was quick to tell me what I was seeing.

"Ranger's tracker Steph. Hector?"

"Tank's manning the comms. We've another team heading our way"

I watched as Les answered his phone and saw a grim expression cross his face. He was quiet as he finished the call which only made me worry more.

"Les?"

"Woody and Hal had a gas canister thrown inside their car. They couldn't get out because cars were parked blocking their doors from opening. Miguel took a bullet to the shoulder so Bobby's there to deal with them"

"Gas?"

Was all I could say, worried that it might have killed Woody and Hal.

"Knocked them out quickly. They'll be okay"

While I spoke to Les his eyes were darting about, checking where we were and that no one was following us. I checked the map up front and saw that we hadn't really lessened the distance between us and Ranger. Hector was fast but careful at driving. I realized that we were leaving the built up areas and were now heading north west out of Trenton. The road we were on ran parallel with the river but I watched as the black dot on the screen left the road and seemed to be following a minor road, before it turned again.

"I don't like this"

"What's wrong Hector?"

"Too open"

I was looking ahead and behind us, only seeing an empty road amidst fields surrounding us.

"Shit"

I really didn't like the sound of what Les was saying and if I was worried before now I was almost on the verge of panicking.

"Les?"

"Hector we've got a drone"

Les was leant up against the window looking up into the sky. I had no idea what the hell was going on.

"Armed?"

"I think so"

I heard the word armed but was looking at Les for some sort of explanation. He was leant forward talking to Hector and Ram, who were looking at the map. As Les sat back I had a feeling they'd decided on something, though what I had no idea and I wasn't too sure I would like it.

I felt Les unfasten my seatbelt as the car slowed down and assumed that we were going to stop. It didn't happen like that. As we started to go around a corner Les leant over me and opened the door and the next thing I knew I was thrown out of the car. It was a damn good job Les went with me because fortunately for me it was him who hit the ground first. I may have screamed as we continued to roll and was so shaken that I hadn't realized we'd come to a stop, with Les laid over me.

"Stay perfectly still Beautiful. Those things can see for miles"

I still had no idea what he was talking about until I saw a small object fly over us. I held my breath as it soundlessly disappeared from sight, but Les still didn't move. The sound of an explosion had me jumping and tears came to my eyes at the thoughts going through my mind. Had it been our car that had blown up? Where was Ranger, was he hurt? As I struggled to move Les wouldn't allow me, his body firmly keeping me in place but it didn't stop the tears that were now pouring down my face.

"Hector and Ram will be fine. The plan was that they'd bail just before the missile hit. The fire and smoke would conceal them leaving the car"

Okay that answered one of my questions.

"What about Ranger?"

"Two other cars are on their way"

At last Les moved away from me and stepped back then he was holding out his hand to me, then pulling me from the ground up onto my feet.

"You okay Beautiful, you're not hurt, are you?"

"No, what about you. You hit the ground first"

I knew I maybe had a few scrapes and possibly I knocked my head, but no way was I going to say anything. Les looked definitely disheveled from the fall and rolling but I suppose he was used to doing things like that. Les pulled me up the bank of the ditch that we'd ended up in, just as a black SUV pulled to a stop in front of us. How Les knew that a car had just pulled up I had no idea. It was Tank driving, making me wonder who was left at Rangeman. I got into the back seat as Les got in the front and we were soon driving along the road again.

The sight of smoke as we drove past the corner had tears coming to my eyes again. What the hell was happening, had that been meant for Ranger? As Tank negotiated the car around the wreckage it was obvious that no one could have survived had they been inside the car.

"Hector and Ram, they're okay?"

Please just say yes Tank because I wasn't too sure I could take much more of what was happening around us.

"Yes, they got picked up and are following Ranger"

This car didn't have the screen like the other one had, and it was then that I noticed that Tank had an earbud and mic attached to him.

"They've pulled into what looks like a farm. House, barn and outbuildings"

"Defense then offence?"

I turned to Les as he said that wondering what the hell that would entail and if I would be included or not.

"Yeah, equipment is in the trunk. The rest of teams are waiting on us, keeping surveillance of the area"

All I could think about was what was happening to Ranger. My mind was going into hyper drive as I remembered what had happened to me and especially Shane. I knew the Rangemen could be very formidable and could only hope that we'd arrived in time.

My fear of that woman Beth was now turning to anger at what she'd managed to do but there were questions that kept popping into my head. Like why take Ranger and not me? And surely, he would have seen her coming out of the ladies room and even fought off any assailants? Then there was that flying thing, Les had called a drone. Who the hell was controlling that, and had they targeted our car thinking that the bad guys were in it? I knew straight away that that wasn't right, the drone had been targeting a Rangeman SUV, the one that I was in. Did that mean that I really did know something or had seen someone, and they were after me?

As all of those thoughts rolled through my head, I noticed that we'd pulled off the track and were now parked up in the cover of a small hut. There was a small enclave of trees and bushes that gave us the cover we needed so as not to be seen from the track.

As Les and Tank got out of the car and opened the trunk I followed, watching carefully at what they were doing. They were putting on vests and pulling out what looked like rifles, and grenades were being slipped onto sections of the vest. Each had on a utility belt full of other weapons, at least two guns each and I was sure there'd be knives hidden somewhere on them. Magazines were slotted into the belt and I watched as Les fitted an earbud and mic to his neck and ear. I was literally hopping from foot to foot as I looked on.

"Steph, stay in the car"

I know I opened and shut my mouth wanting to say something, but then realized there was no point in arguing. Seeing them dressed as they were made me understand just how prepped they were to do battle. With the best will in the world I knew I'd get in the way or worse still, distract them away from what they had to do. What they had to do was to get Ranger out and I knew if anyone could do that then they were stood right in front of me.

I watched from the front seat of the car as Les and Tank disappeared from sight, amazed that even though I knew where they had gone that I couldn't see them.

I never had been good at waiting, least of all sat in a car, and no, I had no intention of falling asleep. The more I watched ahead of me the more fidgety and nervous I became often seeing things that just weren't there. It was as I looked back down the track from where we had driven in from that I spotted a movement.

The more I watched the track I was sure that I could see dust rising into the air and as far as I was concerned that meant that there was a vehicle heading this way. Taking my phone from my bag I sent a message to Les. "Vehicle approaching" just hoping I'd done the right thing. I didn't get a reply so had no idea if Les had received it, let alone read it.

I knew the nose of the car wasn't well hidden in the trees and really didn't want to be caught stuck in the car on my own. I weighed up what I could do and came to the decision to leave the car and hide behind the hut. At least then I'd have the option of running or staying hidden.

The sound of a vehicle approaching came to me as I hid behind the hut and hearing it stop and the sound of a door opening and slamming shut, I knew that I'd made the right decision. I heard the door to our SUV open so closed my eyes, keeping as still as possible. As the door slammed shut, I was hoping that whoever it was would just assume that the car had been empty and not decide to take a look around.

I was so intent on watching the area where the SUV was parked and felt relief as I heard an engine start up, that I have to admit I lowered my defenses, breathing out a sigh of relief that the person had now left the area.

I wasn't sure what happened next because all that I felt was a burning sensation on the back of my neck. That was the last memory that I had.