Chapter 49
RPOV
"Don't get shot"
Came through in my ear bud making me smile and wanting to go back into the room with Steph. I was waylaid by Tank and Cal coming out the conference room so I didn't get the chance to say a final goodbye.
"You ready to roll Ranger?"
I nodded my head as we moved toward the stairwell door and descended into the garage. This was going to be six teams of two men and with the plans that we'd put into place I was just hoping that it would be enough. Each team had their orders and knew the positions that they needed to take. It was important for us to remain hidden and to blend in, whilst maintaining constant communications.
Santos and Ram were already at the airport and were going to be joining the ground crew that manned the dollies that handled the baggage containers going to and from the aircraft. The change of shift earlier would have enabled them to merge in with the rest of the people who worked there. Cal and Tank would be joining the crew of men who transferred the luggage from the dollies onto the belts whilst Hal and Woody were out on the runway working with the maintenance vehicles that serviced the planes once they were parked at their gate.
I had Binkie and Slick dressed as security and was expecting them to keep surveillance of the unloading bay whilst Hector and Miguel were linked into the control tower and overseeing our communications. That left Bobby and me and we were going to be floating as FBI agents.
As I parked the car in the long stay car park, I turned on my ear bud, smiling as I heard Steph's voice come to me. She was an hour behind us and would be with Isaac in the area where passengers checked in before moving through security to get to their departure gates. I was actually pleased that Steph could have a role to play in this takedown, though I was still a little uncertain of why Isaac would choose to be in that area. He assured us that it was where his bosses wanted him to be and that they were up to speed with what we were doing.
One of the things that everyone was on the lookout for was anything unusual. Not easy in an airport with the variety of passengers travelling through. I still couldn't work out what type of incident would be used to render chaos here, that would point to a terrorist attack. Bobby and I had moved toward the security area, watching as people put their belongings in the baskets to travel through the X ray machines and then as they walked through the metal detectors.
"No one is going to be able to get anything through here, hell they've even brought out more sniffer dogs"
"You're right Bobby, but something in the outer area wouldn't create the distraction that they needed"
"Maybe the lower sections then, where the baggage is handled"
"It's five minutes before the teams check in. The plane from South Africa should be here in 30 minutes, we'll have to head down there and help keep the safe in sight"
After fifteen minutes of watching the passengers pass through security I had to agree with what Bobby was saying so prepared for the teams to report in. One by one the guys reported that they had nothing to report.
"Let's head down to the lower level"
I said to Bobby as I led him across to the door that went down to the arrivals area. The door required a key card, so I used the device that Hector had given to me. Sliding the metal card into the slot I watched as the devise worked its magic and the light turned green. Opening the door, we walked into a corridor and started to head down the stairs. It was then that I clearly heard Steph in my ear, wondering if Hector had limited who could hear her.
"Isaac, is something wrong?"
I stopped walking and turned to Bobby seeing that he must be hearing the same as me.
"No, just checking the time. I have a call to make, I won't be a minute. Just need to check in"
That seemed a logical response from Isaac so I continued along to the stairs that would take us down into the arrivals area. The area had crowds of people milling around. Children were either running around or crying, no doubt they were tired from all the waiting about. A sound had my attention and I watched as the belt on the carousel started to move and the crowd of people moving forward. This was one of the reasons that I hated flying with luggage on a commercial flight. Watching as people lunged forward to grab a hold of their case, I helped an elderly woman by lifting her case from the moving belt.
"Let's walk around a bit, stretch our legs"
Came to me and made me smile. Steph would be bored stupid if she'd been sat all this time especially if Isaac was as quiet as he seemed to be. I wondered what she'd been doing to occupy herself, reading maybe, though that wouldn't have been much help for keeping up surveillance in the area.
That's when it happened, the distraction that we were waiting for but not in the form that we were expecting. Every light in the place went out and the carousel came to a grinding halt. I could hear shouts and screams coming from around me as people began to panic. Both Bobby and I brought out our flashlights trying to bring some calm to the area, pleased when other adults came up with using their phones.
"They're not going to stay calm for long"
"Not our problem"
"Hector report"
It was at times like this that I was glad that our systems ran independently on our sources of power.
"Explosion at substation, half the city's gone black along with the airport"
"Estimated repair?"
"They'll reroute power through a second station, maybe 40 minutes or less"
"We're heading down to the bays"
"Plane landed and approaching the gate, but they'll delay passengers disembarking until power established"
I turned to Bobby and saw that he had his hand over his ear, as though listening to another conversation and walked over to him.
"I'm picking up voices from where Steph is, sounds like chaos and someone started to scream that a bomb's gone off"
"That will be difficult to manage, though there should be enough security in the area to get people outside"
As we came to the bottom of the stairs, I opened another secured door that lead out onto a walkway above the loading area. From what I could see from our vantage point it seemed that everyone had come to a standstill.
"Team 2 report"
"We were in the middle of unloading the containers from the flight. No sightings and
product in the container sat here with me"
"Team 3 report"
"We'd just unloaded the bags from the first container onto the belt. All quiet here, no sightings"
"Team 4 report"
What came through my ear bud wasn't from Hal or Woody, it was from Steph and from the tone of her voice she sounded worried.
"Isaac, what's happening, where are we going?"
"Just keep up"
Was all I heard Isaac say before the sound of a door opening and closing came through. The noise that had been there from people panicking suddenly disappeared and I strained to hear what sounds were there. A second door opened and closed before I heard Steph shouting out.
"Isaac where the hell are we going?"
I was asking the same question but could only trust that Isaac knew what he was doing and where they were going.
"Hector, track Steph"
"On it"
My eyes were scanning the area below me while I continued to focus on the sounds coming from Steph. I was feeling very uneasy right now. Okay, we'd had the distraction of a terrorist bombing and that had resulted in the blackout at the airport. So why would they cut the power before they could reach the safe with the diamonds in. It just didn't make sense, unless the heist was planned to happen once the power was restored and everyone was focused on restoring some sense of normality and safety.
The sounds coming through my ear bud had me cupping my hand over my ear, just as Bobby had done before, intent on trying to work out what was happening behind the sounds that I was hearing. I heard a door open, followed by a loud bang, as though it had been slammed shut. It was the sound of a safety catch clicking from a gun that had my attention and the quick breaths coming from Steph.
"Drop your bag on the floor Stephanie"
The voice of Isaac resonated through me, that bastard had double crossed me and now he had a hold of Steph.
"Team 1. Tracker off line, switching to backup"
"Hector explain"
"Steph's original tracker in her watch isn't transmitting so following the tracker on her necklace"
I was trying to listen to Hector yet needed to hear what was happening to Steph. I turned to Bobby who obviously knew that something was wrong.
"Talk with Hector and get us to where Steph is"
As Bobby did that I was back listening for Steph hearing what sounded like metal clicking and then the unmistakable sound of someone being hit followed by what I was sure was Steph hitting against something. That's when I realized what the sound was that I'd heard before, handcuffs being snapped closed because I heard it again.
"On your feet, we have to move"
I turned to look at Bobby as he came and stood next to me.
"This way, they're up a level on the other side of the building. We have to go back up and through the arrivals area to get there"
I followed Bobby, trusting him to lead the way, knowing that Hector would be directing him. It seemed that we'd have to return the we'd come, so I handed Bobby the card device for him to manage opening the doors.
"Isaac, what's going on, why are you doing this?"
There was a small sound in the background before I heard Steph again.
"Hector up loaded the pictures"
"Not all of them and knowing you I bet there were a lot more on there"
I'd seen those photos because Hector had shown them to me. I was so damned annoyed that Steph was hurt because of them. All she was trying to do was her job and had they not kidnapped her then we wouldn't be on their trail now. Neither would we be aware of the scheme they were up to or Calhoun's involvement. By now we were walking up the stairs to reach the next level but the next words that I heard from Steph had me stopping.
"Why the blue color for the vests, I thought that normally they were yellow?"
"Brilliant idea of mine don't you think. Only FBI agents and of course my team will be wearing these. Anyone else will be seen as imposters and shot as terrorists"
Bobby was looking back at me and waited as I caught up with him.
"Lose the vest Bobby"
"All teams. Remove vests with yellow FBI logo on. Abort positions. Repeat abort, mission has been compromised"
"Ranger?"
I was both fuming at what had happened and scared for Steph now. I'd worked with Isaac before on a case and he'd never given me the feeling that he couldn't be trusted. How the hell had I missed this, how the hell had I trusted him, especially with Steph. As I turned to Bobby he gave me a strange look as though he wasn't too sure what was going on.
"Isaac. He's working with those people, so they know exactly where we'll be and when. He set us up so that we'll be seen as the terrorists"
"Shit, where's Steph, she's not with him, is she?"
"Yes. She's saying that they're heading downstairs"
"We'll need to cut through here and access another internal corridor first"
I was so proud of my Babe at how she was trying to keep me informed with what was happening. Her quick thinking had probably saved our lives or at least the possibility of being imprisoned.
"She's going down some metal stairs"
"Hector has her position"
We were soon at the top of the stairs but this time at a quicker pace and ran down the corridor as we both removed our vests and dropped them on the floor. We were greeted with silence as we entered the area where luggage was supposed to be collected. We shone our flashlights over an empty space relieved that the area had been cleared and was now perfectly empty and silent. I followed Bobby across the hall listening as Steph's question to Isaac came to me.
"So how are you involved in this, was it Sophia or Beth that persuaded you?"
"Neither"
There was a moment of silence while I'm sure Steph was working that one out.
"It must be Ethan then, or was it Alan"
I must admit her response threw me because I had never picked up the vibes from Isaac that he was gay.
I sure as hell hoped that it wasn't Andrews otherwise not only would his sister be upset but Isaac could very well be extremely annoyed that Andrews was dead. As we reached the door to leave the hall I watched as Bobby started the process of opening it while I continued to listen for Steph. I heard voices and realized that it was a woman speaking. I didn't recognize it as belonging to Sophia, this voice was lower and she pronounced her words clearer.
"You're late Isaac"
"I'm here now. Everything go as planned?"
I turned to Bobby seeing him trying to open the door in front of us willing for him to go faster.
"Is it open Bobby?"
"Getting there, what's happened?"
"I think that they met up with Beth"
"Hell, that'll shake Steph up. There we're through"
I smiled as I heard the strong voice of Steph, she sounded pissed off not afraid of Beth and somehow, she'd worked out how they'd managed to be already in possession of the diamonds. I had to admit that whoever was the mastermind was clever. I heard Isaac telling someone where we would be and set the scene for an armed response when finding us. I was almost sorry that we wouldn't be there for the ensuing dogfight because right now I wanted the release that only came from hurting someone and my sights were firmly set on Isaac at the moment.
That he was thinking that he could plant evidence on Steph and have her arrested was a mistake on his part. I felt the adrenaline rush through my blood, the calm control take over my mind. I was a man that no one crossed, the mercenary that stopped at nothing and my mission was to find Steph and ensure her safety. By now we'd run down a hallway and had another door to open, I was getting sick and tired of these damn doors so before Bobby had a chance to insert the metal sleeve I stepped back and raised my leg, kicking the door just below the locking mechanism. The impact was what I wanted and expected, and I was soon following a smiling Bobby pleased when we came to a set of stairs.
"Stop. Something's happened. Hector says that Steph is moving fast, maybe too fast because he thinks she's on a metal walk way"
I could hear fast breathing and maybe the sound of feet on metal but then my blood ran cold as her scream pierced through me and I heard a loud thump.
My fear was that Steph had fallen, Bobby had said that she was on an open walkway. All ideas of maintaining control went out of the window and I was now running to get to the stairs that would get us down into the area that she was in. As I took the staircase down several steps at a time I couldn't understand when Bobby grabbed hold of my arm and stopped me.
"Hector says that she's moving again. Power to the airport has been established so they're powering up equipment first before the lights"
"Where is she?"
"He's almost sure that she's on a luggage belt heading up to the luggage collection hall"
"Shit. We're running in circles. Did the teams get out?"
"Yeah, they're standing by to come in and help"
"I'll follow her from below, you head back to that damn hall"
I wasn't sure how injured Steph would be if she fallen over the rail and could only hope that maybe her fall had been broken by the luggage. As I entered the lower section, I could hear the sound of the belt moving but saw nothing in the dim light that posed a threat. I wasn't worried about me, I was worried in case Isaac had followed her. I couldn't hear anything from the ear bud making me worry even more. I was just about to climb onto the belt when it came to a shuddering stop.
"Hector report"
"She's still moving"
Shit did that mean that Isaac had followed her up and now was moving her? The first set of bags that I came to I threw out of my way to enable me to climb faster. That worked until a tunnel area came into view. I knew I was strong and fast but the space was confined and I ended up having to almost crawl over and through the damn bags. How the hell Isaac was moving Steph had me wondering if he was and the hope that Steph was managing to move herself brought a renewed sense that she was okay.
Hearing her obviously talking out loud to herself gave me renewed hope. "You've got to be okay Ranger" I almost felt like shouting up to her that I was okay and I was close to her, to hang on until I reached her. I swallowed down that impulse not wanting anyone else to hear me or to know that I was close behind her. At last I could see a light up ahead and was overcome with relief that I'd finally reached the top. That relief was cut short when I heard a voice ahead of me.
"Nice try at escaping Miss Plum"
As I pulled myself to the opening, I looked through the black rows of rubber hanging down to see Isaac stood at the end of the narrow room, his gun pointing at Steph with several other armed men behind him.
"Miss Plum, I'm arresting you under the terrorism act and for theft. Stand up and turn around"
I could see Steph ahead of me, knelt down by the carousel. I watched as her head sank and then as she stood up. Her wrists were still cuffed behind her and I could see rips in her clothes where small amounts of blood were seeping through. She struggled to stand obviously feeling the effects of her fall and then her struggle to climb up here but as she was turning her body went rigid. I looked up to see what had caught her attention and found myself looking at a woman dressed in the uniform of an airlines cabin crew. I had no doubt that she was Beth. The two women were staring at each other and I watched as Steph stood taller.
I wasn't too sure what her intentions were as she stared down at Steph. Though judging by the look on her face it wasn't something that I wanted to find out. She was obviously unaware of the other men behind Isaac, as they were basically underneath her.
"Well, well, if it isn't you again. I knew we should have killed you when we had the chance"
I hadn't noticed what she had in her hands, other than a large black bag until she pulled out a small machine gun. Several things happened as she did that and stepped forward to the rail. I wasn't too sure what was going to happen next but knew that if I was going to save Steph then I had to move quickly. I had no doubt in my mind that Beth would use that gun and that she would use it on Steph first.
As Isaac looked up at her and started to move forward, I carefully started to move slowly through the opening hoping that everyone's attention was now on Isaac or Beth. It was obvious that the men stood behind Isaac had no idea what was going on or how grave the situation was becoming.
My eye was caught by movement along the balcony area where Beth was stood, and I immediately recognized the figure of Fin. What the hell was he doing here? Shit had he lied to Tank when he'd said that he was staying down in Florida or was he following orders again and saw Steph as his target. Isaac shouting out to Beth caught my attention and looking back to her it only seemed to annoy her more as was evident from her response to him.
"Do you think I'm just going to walk away and let her live Isaac? You'll get your glory from stopping a group of terrorists"
With that her finger must have been on the trigger because there was the sound of a lot of shots being fired. I moved quickly, dodging the bullets that came my way and fired my gun toward Beth but knew from the way her head spun that she'd already been shot. I bolted from where I was and was instantly heading for Steph, I'd seen her fall and was sure she'd been hit.
I was right next to her as her eyes looked up to the ceiling, seeing a small smile on her face and hearing her say.
"It's raining diamonds"
I didn't see, feel or hear the stones as they fell, all senses were blocked out as I started to shout out her name.
"Babe, don't go to sleep, Babe you've got to wake up"
I lost all sense of time and space as I watched her eyes close and saw the stain of blood on her chest spreading out. I was aware of being pulled away from her and started to fight back, I couldn't leave her now when I'd been too late to save her.
"Ranger let me get to her, let me treat her"
I knelt back allowing Bobby better access and looked down onto her face. Her hair was covered in diamonds that were sparkling in the light. She looked just like an angel with a halo around her head, but she was my angel and I wasn't ready to lose her. As Bobby pulled back her jacket and shirt I could see where the blood was coming from but couldn't work out what her injury was.
"Hell Ranger, would you look at this?"
As he pulled away a chain that was around her neck, he placed a dressing onto a small wound in the middle of her chest, but in his hand was a circular gold pendent that had a bullet embedded in it.
"Okay, let the paramedics through, let's get our girl to the hospital and get a thorough check over"
My eyes returned to Steph and it was then that I saw the small movement of her chest, rising and falling as she drew breath in and out of her lungs.
"Will be she be alright?"
"I don't know. Let's get some X rays and scans done first"
I stayed with Steph the entire time, my eyes never leaving her until she was lifted up onto a stretcher. That's when I became aware of the carnage around us. It seemed that Beth had also managed to shoot Isaac and two of the FBI agents behind him.
As I followed the gurney through to the back of the hall a man called Wilt Crayson came up to me. I'd had dealings with him before and had no intention of dealing with him now. I'd sort this shit up after I knew that Steph was going to be alright. He was insistent as he stood blocking my way and even though he must have been aware of how annoyed I was with him it didn't stop him from talking. That man was like a dog with a bone and wouldn't let anything deter him from what he wanted to happen.
"Your man filled me in, and I received a transcript of the conversations between that woman of yours and agent Newland. I'll sort this clusterfuck up, but we have some lose ends to tie up and I think you'll want to be in on that. I hope she's okay"
With that he turned away and allowed us to leave. Now I had to endure a long wait at the hospital to find out just how badly injured Steph was.
