Chapter 44
SPOV
I think I was a bit shell shocked with what had happened to Joe. I just never saw it coming, though maybe I should have. I was sure that Ranger was worried about how I would feel, but to be honest I didn't feel anything. Joe had made decisions and choices and now he was feeling the consequences. He was a grown man who to be honest was a deceitful person. The only concern that I had now was whether or not Joe would see me or Ranger as the reason for his demise and if he would try and make life difficult for us.
I watched as Ranger spoke with Les, pleased that he was arranging for Joe to be watched. It made me feel easier and I didn't want Ranger to darken his soul anymore with the death of a worthless piece of scum like Morelli.
Ten minutes later the group was sat back around the table. Interestingly it was Isaac who started with the questions now. I looked at him, seeing him as though for the first time. He was tall with dark wavy hair that was swept away from his face. Brown eyes against a pale complexion that showed an angular face making him a good looking guy. He was dressed in denim jeans and a pale blue T-shirt but even though he was a good looking guy there was something about how he held himself and used those long fingers to pick up the papers in front of him. I shook those ideas from my mind as he looked up and spoke to Ranger.
"You know where Sophia is, don't you?"
"Yes, she stayed here last night. She wants to talk to you"
"I never told her I was FBI"
I wondered how she'd feel when she found out that he was FBI, if she'd feel that he'd been using her to gain access to information at the club? Then again Sophia had said that their friendship was platonic, someone she could talk to. Maybe they'd need to talk first before they began to look at this case. If she found out later from someone else, then she might hate him for it. I knew I would.
"Maybe you need that conversation first. She told me that she'd found a room that had a lot of computers inside and plans on the wall"
I watched as he turned to Ranger, maybe not liking what I'd said.
"Randall and Andrews, what did they say?"
I knew Ranger was annoyed with what had happened with Andrews and maybe felt guilty because he'd never seen it coming. I was worried how Chief Watson and Isaac would react to the news.
"Randall knows about the scams and fraud but doesn't seem to know about the bigger picture. Andrews, well he did the unexpected, he chewed on a cyanide tablet"
"Shit Ranger"
"I know. The thing is that there's a lot more going on here than just cyber fraud"
I saw as a frown appeared on Chief Watson's face. He had no idea where this was going to go and I wasn't too sure how he would react.
"I want to show you two things. Babe, I don't want you to see the first"
"Why not?"
"The woman, Beth, she recorded what happened in that room. Fin found a copy on Jari's computer"
I didn't need to watch that video because I knew too well what had happened, I didn't want to relive that time again so just nodded my head at Ranger.
"Would you update the board in the conference room so we can look at that afterwards?"
"I can do that"
As he started to stand, he kissed my cheek before taking Isaac and the Chief from the room. I went into the conference room and looked at the board in front of me. It had me wondering why that video had been made and what they intended to do with it. This couldn't just be about cyber fraud, this was so much bigger, especially if we were right and Calhoun was involved. What could the man hope to get that he didn't have already?
He probably had enough money and he seemed to be powerful. I started to think of all the reasons men like him resorted to being involved with something illegal. I didn't think love had anything to do with it, revenge though was a possibility. Maybe someone in the past had wronged him or was it something to do with the work that he did? It was useless trying to guess, because what I needed to do was some serious research on him. I'd need to ask Ranger how far I could do that without alerting Calhoun. Of course, he may have covered his tracks well, that's what Ranger had done to stop people from finding information about him. I knew, because we'd tried that at the bonds office and came up with nothing.
I rearranged some of the names and added cyber fraud to the board but then printed off a large question mark and added that as well. Hearing talking, I turned to see Ranger come through the door. I had to admit that Isaac and the Chief looked very grim faced. Both of them walked to the board and started to read what was there. It was silent in the room as they did that, so I walked to Ranger and wrapped my arms around his waist, just needing the comfort of his touch. His arms came around me and he kissed the top of my head.
"What has you so worried Babe?"
"I think they're planning something that would look like a terrorist attack"
"Why would they do that?"
"To distract people from looking deeper"
"So that terrorists will be blamed?"
"Yeah, but I can't figure out what's motivating them, I mean money is obvious for most of them, but Calhoun?"
"If it wasn't for Calhoun, I could see them trying to hold the country to ransom, though that wouldn't work out well for them"
"Why not?"
"Policy is not to negotiate with terrorists"
"I need more on Calhoun, I need to do a search on him"
"Steph"
I turned at hearing my name and stepped out of Ranger's arms to look at Chief Watson, not really sure why he would need to talk to me.
"I am so sorry for what you went through"
I could see that he was shaken by watching that video and it made me feel embarrassed that the chief was saying that to me, being stuck on how to reply.
"Please don't tell my Dad, I haven't told anyone except the men here"
"I won't say a word"
Neither one of us probably knew what else to say on the subject and as I looked down, he turned towards the wall with the information on.
"So you put this together?"
He'd turned back to me to ask his question but I knew that the work he was looking at wasn't just from me. Yeah, it was because of me but the guys here at Rangeman had worked hard to add a lot of the detail.
"Different people have contributed to it"
"I can't believe Barnes is involved"
I suppose it would be hard for the Chief seeing one of his own men there on the board.
"Money has a way of enticing people to do the wrong thing"
"I know, but this is bigger than just money"
"Any ideas on how we stop them?"
Came from Isaac as he turned from the board and looked at me. Why me was lost on me because I hadn't any ideas at the moment and the ideas that I did have I wanted to find more information about first.
"We need to know what they're up to. You were right, this is far bigger than cyber fraud"
I think Isaac knew now that he needed to talk to Sophia, maybe what she'd seen would give us some inkling of what they were planning.
"Ranger, I probably need to speak with Sophia"
"Isaac, are you going to report back to your bosses?"
I wasn't sure why Ranger had asked that, other than he didn't always trust people that he didn't know.
"As Chief of Police I don't advice it. We'll end up with too many agents involved and these people will get wind that we're onto them. I'm pretty damn sure that if you work here with Ranger and his team, you'll not find any better"
I'm sure my mouth was open because I felt Les push my chin up. I was eagerly waiting for Isaac to say something and was getting impatient.
"I can work with that Chief"
I could see the way Ranger's eyes changed slightly as Isaac answered, only a slight change that most people wouldn't see but having gotten to know Ranger better I could see it. He was pleased with the answer that Isaac had given to him, probably because he'd have better control of what was planned.
"Bobby would you take Isaac to where Sophia is"
I wasn't sure myself where Sophia was and assumed that maybe she was in one of the apartments on four. Maybe it was me being nosey, but I would have liked to have heard what she had to say. Not how she reacted to finding out that Isaac was FBI but what she'd maybe seen when she'd found that room. My mind went back to what the chief had said about this being bigger than cyber fraud and considered the people involved.
Yeah, it was time to find out about Calhoun.
I walked back over to Ranger, who was deep in conversation with the chief, and waited as they finished speaking. Then as the opportunity came up, I quietly mentioned to him my intentions.
"I'm going to see what I can find on Calhoun"
"The search programs won't find much Babe"
"I know, but there may be an angle to work from. Where is he based?"
"Probably Washington"
"How old is he?"
"I'd say late forties to early fifties"
I left Ranger talking with Chief Watson and walked to Ranger's office. Once sat down at my desk I started up my computer trying to be optimistic that I could find something. Edward Calhoun went into the search program, the one that Leo had provided, and I input the information that Ranger had told me. As I waited for names to come up, I was surprised that there were only three that fit the parameters that I'd used.
Finding our man was easy enough because there was only one whose history was very vague and held very little information about his work or personal life. It gave me some information that I could use though, like the names of his deceased parents and where he'd been born and when. Ranger had been right, Edward Calhoun was 52 years old and from little there was he'd joined the army in his twenties.
Seeing nothing more I turned to his parents, surprised that they had both died at the same time. My hand went to mouth as I realized that the date was September 11th, 2001. As I read on it seemed that they had been passengers on the American Airlines Flight that was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon. His parents had been travelling from Washington to Los Angeles where they lived.
I wasn't sure why but for some reason I wanted to find out who else had been a passenger on that plane. Using the flight number, it was easy to find the names of the other passengers. I wasn't sure why I wasn't surprised at the feel of a deep sense of sorrow as I looked through those names. I remembered that day, nineteen years ago. I was 14 years old at the time and was aware that something huge had happened, but it was as I stopped for my lunch between classes and listened to the radio that one of the other kids had, that the full impact of what had happened hit me. It left me feeling numb, as though I was hearing a fictional story. So many lives lost, not abroad in a war but not far away from where I lived. I couldn't see the smoke, thankfully, but did decide that I wanted to go home. I remember that my Mum had been annoyed that I'd left school and tried to send me back. In the end I spent the rest of the day sat with my Dad in the garage, the both of us just trying to get our heads around what had happened.
I shook my head to get those memories from my head but visibly shook as I thought that maybe these people were like those hijackers, terrorists with some evil and deadly plan. I focused on the names in front of me and was shocked when along with Calhoun's parents, there were three other names with the same surname. I immediately put the first name into the search program waiting impatiently for the program to do its job. Emily Calhoun had been married to Edward Calhoun and they'd had two children.
Shit, Calhoun had lost his entire family on that day. So why was he now in cahoots with people who were behaving like terrorists? Surely, he must hate them for what happened to his family? I sat back as I deliberated what would cause Calhoun to change sides. Had he gone mad? Nah, he wouldn't be allowed to do the work he did would he?
I sat back in the chair, a pencil between my teeth as I pondered on why Calhoun was involved. I had to believe that he hated anything to do with terrorism and would want any threats neutralized. I mean wasn't he one of the men that Ranger said was at his debriefing. So wasn't Calhoun one of those faceless men that managed anti terrorist protocols and threats?
That he'd maybe instigated the idea that Ranger was wrong about what he'd found out in Yemen about another group had me confused. He'd want to act on that information, wouldn't he? Except the other group was the one he was working with. Then it hit me. He knew that Ranger would be aware of them, he was counting on it. The fact that I somehow fell fowl of the group was a total coincidence. Why, was the question still plaguing me.
I jumped when a hand rested on my shoulder and turned to see Les stood behind me.
"You have that look Beautiful"
"What look?"
"Like you think you may know the answer but aren't too sure"
Okay, maybe he was right and maybe Les could help me out on this.
"Les, why don't you work for the government anymore?"
"The missions, like Ranger does?"
"Yeah"
"It got to the point where I was being sent to South America a lot, sorting out the problems caused by drug cartels"
"Go on"
I was actually interested in why Les had decided he didn't want to go there or do that stuff anymore.
"We'd deal with the man running things, destroy the fields or factories but six months later there'd be another man in charge doing exactly the same thing. Then I decided that I'd been there that often I was probably getting to be known"
"So Ranger going to Yemen was unusual?"
"I suppose. There aren't as many jobs now in the Middle East"
"Why not?"
"The US and NATO allies have agreed to withdraw all troops within 14 months if the militants uphold a deal. Under the agreement, the militants agreed not to allow al-Qaeda or any other extremist group to operate in the areas they control"
"They won't just go away, someone will have to manage it won't they?"
"It seems that's being left to the Taliban and surrounding countries"
Personally, I wasn't enthusiastic about that happening, but what did I know?
"So there won't be as many infiltrations or intel gathering"
"What are you getting at Beautiful?"
I was finding it really hard to explain as I didn't really have anything concrete to base my ideas on. It was a feeling, nothing more but maybe I could get Les to understand.
"Okay, hear me out first. Calhoun is a man who fights against terrorism. He lost his family in the 9/11 hijackings. He sends Ranger to Yemen knowing that he'll find something on a second group, because he knows that Ranger is that good. Maybe Calhoun knows that his hands are tied, get the results you set out and the jobs done. But, if there is a terrorist attack then Calhoun can say that he could have stopped it if he'd been given, I don't know the power, budget or the men"
I watched Les as I spoke to him and even though I knew I hadn't explained it very well I think he was beginning to see what I was getting at.
"So he sets up a false group who do something that can be blamed on terrorists and then basically says, I told you so"
"Yes"
"And the others in the group somehow get hold of money when the action happens"
Les went quiet and very still as he mulled over what we'd been talking about. In fact, he was so quiet that I was almost sure he'd end up saying that it was a nice idea but to come up with something else.
"Les?"
"Let me talk to some contacts I have"
Les didn't say anything else, instead he just turned from me, obviously deep in thought and walked out of the room. I turned back to the computer wondering if there was anything else that I could do. As I stared at the computer, I noticed the icons that I'd seen before when I was with Leo and Larri. I flicked through them to see what they could do and stopped on one that was called a multi complicity search. Not really certain of exactly what it could do I opened up the program. It was asking for the usual information that I'd use in a normal search but each time I hit the return key it came up with the same page.
I was back to chewing on the end of my pen, but this time was aware of someone coming into the office. I swung my chair around to see Hector coming in and thought how fortuitist it was that he was here.
"Hector what does this program do?"
He leant over my chair and took the program back to the beginning.
"I've not tried that one out yet but looking at how it's set up and the name it could look for connections between people"
I smiled back at Hector and took out copies of searches that I'd already done and started to input the data asked for.
"Estefania?"
"I'm going to input the names of the people we're looking at"
"I'll help"
Hector helping was him doing all of the typing while I read out the information from my files. I included Edward Calhoun, Elizabeth Routledge and Elizabeth Andrews. Her brother Alan Andrews and the name Rylands, Darren Barnes, Keith Randall and finally Ethan Parker.
"Anymore?"
I shook my head as I took a last look through the papers but then touched Hector's shoulder as I remembered the other name that Leo had found.
"We have the name Dee, but nothing else. Can we just use a name?"
I watched as Hector typed in the name and then as he moved the mouse over the large icon that read "Start search".
"This could take hours Estefania"
"I know"
But however long it took if it came up with a connection then it would be worth the wait. I hadn't really thought about it before, but it seemed important now, and that was knowing how Calhoun had met up with Parker and Andrews. That fraud case may have made the news here but cases like that were happening across the country. It wasn't such a big deal to attract the attention of Calhoun.
"Estefania"
I'd totally forgotten that Hector was still here and looked across to him smiling at me.
"New watch and this necklace"
I looked at the necklace hanging from Hector's hand, watching as the light reflected from it and recognizing that it looked like a pendent with the shape of a man engraved on it.
"Who's that?"
"St Michael, patron saint of warriors. Squeeze it and it activates panic button"
As I took the necklace in my hands, I had to admit that it was a beautiful piece. The pendent looked to be made from gold and was probably the size of my thumb nail, making it look dainty. I unfastened the gold chain and as I tried to fasten it at the back of my neck Hector swept my hair to one side and did it for me. The pendent fell just onto my breastbone and felt comfortable.
"Thank you, Hector. It's very beautiful"
"Para una hermosa guerrera"
I had no idea what he'd said and wasn't going to ask, instead I took the watch and fastened it around my wrist. This was the third watch I'd had and hoped that it would be the last. There was nothing else for me to do now so I walked out of the office with Hector. Then remembered that I was supposed to ask Hector a favor.
"Hector could you pick up a laptop from someone and see if you can find out what the person was working on?"
"Si"
"A friend called Zook has it but it hasn't been used for a long time"
"No problem, is it important?"
"It belonged to that young kid who was murdered, the case that Jerry and Barnes were on originally"
"Address?"
I rushed back into the room and picked up my phone, that seemed to have mysteriously appeared on my desk. Once back with Hector I opened the phone and scrolled down to the address and turned the phone for him to see it. Hector made no comment instead he opened the door to the stairwell and disappeared.
I was wondering where Ranger had got to and if Isaac had finished speaking with Sophia but wasn't sure where anyone would be. Deciding that I was hungry and that it was probably close to dinner time I used the elevator to go up to seven. I was surprised when I went in to see Ranger in the kitchen and that he was taking out a bowl from the oven. He turned and smiled at me when he saw me, so I walked to him and gave him a gentle kiss. Seeing as he had his hands full that was all it was going to be.
"That smells good, what is it?"
"Meatballs and spaghetti. I told Ella how you were almost drooling at Izzie's meal when we were down in Washington"
I remembered that and was taken aback that Ranger had noticed and remembered.
"But the curry we had was good"
"You also missed a meal at Pinos"
"Yes, though Joe did feed me with their pizzas"
By now Ranger had set the bowl down on the breakfast bar and I was eager to sit down and eat. Ranger, though, had other ideas though and seeing as his hands were now free, he made full use of them. As he pulled me toward him his hands were on my back but soon moved down to my hips, pulling me against him harder. I felt the edge of the table against me and was aware that my jeans were being pulled down. That was all the invitation that I needed because it meant that he wouldn't back off due my injuries.
I felt his hands under my thighs and the coolness of the table on my bare skin. I was almost frantic as I pulled his top up, and over his head, allowing my hands to glide over the taut muscles of his chest. His lips were everywhere on me, inciting a fire to develop deep inside of me, my neck, my breasts all had his lavish attention. My hands were following a path down to his trousers and I adeptly undid the top button, allowing my hands to follow the plane of his hips whilst my lips were uttering soft moans against his neck.
Then he was gone, he'd moved away from me, making me want to scream out loud. That's when I heard it, a loud banging on the door. I'm sure I let out a moan as Ranger lifted me to the floor. He pushed my clothes to me and started to pull on his T-shirt.
"Go get dressed Babe, we'll finish this later"
Was what I heard as he turned and pushed me toward the bedroom. I'd only just managed to reach the bedroom door when I heard the front door open knowing that whoever it was had decided to come through before Ranger had reached it. I closed the door enough to allow me to pull my panties and jeans on and hooked my bra into place, before pulling my T-shirt back over my head. A detour via the bathroom had me splashing cold water on my face to try and cool down the pinkness of my cheeks. With my hair pulled tightly back into a ponytail I went back into the lounge wanting to scream at who ever had disturbed us. The interruption had better be damn good, but as I came around the corner I came to a stop when I saw who was there
