Chapter 59

SPOV

I didn't want to open my eyes, not afraid of what I might see, though that was a consideration. It was because I was sure that there'd be pain from those jackhammers going off at a horrendous rate in my head. I would normally put the reaction I was having down to drinking too much alcohol, but I couldn't remember doing that.

That's when some clarity came to me, how or why I wasn't too sure. Maybe it was the taste in my mouth or the burning sensation down my throat, but I started to remember being given a drink and of it tasting smooth and rich, and pretty damn good, good enough that I'd refilled my glass and knocked that back as well. Then I remembered who had given it to me and probably why I'd been so keen to keep drinking. At least it had the desired effect on me. It knocked me out, taking the threat that was looming over me out of the running.

The problem I was having now was that I had that feeling of being watched. As it was a feeling that usually came over me when Ranger watched me, I chose to ignore it. Well not ignore it exactly, more relish in the feel of it while I could. It reminded me of all those nights when I was sure that he was in my bedroom at my apartment. Now, like then, I would stay absolutely still incase my waking up would have him leaving.

I wasn't prepared for the feather like touch on my cheek and jumped which had the jackhammers upping their drilling in my head causing me to moan out loud.

"I'm sorry Babe, I don't have the cure"

My eyes shot open, before scrunching them tightly shut again as the light temporarily sent a pain to my head.

"Shit, I feel like shit"

I felt arms encircle me as I was pulled up against a body, a body that I knew and loved so well. I inhaled deeply before rubbing my hands over my eyes and then peered through squinted eyes at the face looking down at me.

"What are you doing here?"

"Rescuing you"

"I don't know why he brought me here"

"Has he hurt you?"

My hand went to my cheek, knowing that it was stinging slightly, and I shook my head, instantly regretting the movement.

"Morelli did that, just before he was attacked. I thought it was you at first, a flash of someone wearing black clothes with dark skin and hair"

"No, though I wish it had been"

"What happens now?"

"Parker wants to talk to us"

"Oh"

That wasn't the answer that I was expecting but in the back of my mind I had a sudden recollection of Parker saying something when I was in his car. "I have no intention of hurting you. I just need to talk to you. Please"

"Okay, but I need to use the bathroom first"

Ranger stood up and helped me to my feet and had the foresight to keep hold of me. My head was spinning making it difficult to keep my balance and I may have swayed slightly. With Ranger holding me around my waist he guided me to a door that I suppose we both assumed was a bathroom. I almost laughed with relief as the door opened to see a very modern bathroom. Once I'd used the toilet, I splashed cold water over my face and used the pale grey towels to dry myself. At least as I walked out, I did feel slightly better and I could swear that I could smell coffee.

Taking Ranger's hand and holding his arm as well I was walking slightly behind him as we left the bedroom and walked out into an enormous room. I had some memory of seeing it before, but it was very vague. Movement across the room had me looking ahead and seeing a man stood against the counter. He turned with a tray in his hands and smiled at us, which for some stupid reason had me smiling back at him.

"I thought maybe you'd need some coffee and there's some Advil here as well"

Seeing him head toward where the couches were and place the tray onto the coffee table had Ranger guiding me in that direction. I sat with Ranger beside me and watched as Parker poured out three mugs full of coffee. There didn't seem to be any cream, so I added my usual helping of sugar before blowing across the top of the black liquid and taking a sip.

"This coffee tastes amazing, nothing like I usually drink"

It was rich and strong yet smooth as it slid down my throat. I could almost feel the caffeine flowing into my blood, straight to the jackhammers in my head.

"I import the coffee from the Middle East, it tends to be stronger and has a better taste than what you can buy here"

For something to do I shook two tablets from the bottle and swallowed them down with a mouthful of the delicious tasting coffee. The silence was getting to me after a few moments and everyone knows that I hated it, so I decided to go just for it and be blunt with what I asked.

"Mr Parker"

"Ehsan, please. Fereshteh preferred the name to Ethan and I took up my grandfather's name Parven"

"Okay, Ehsan, why are we here?"

His response was to place his mug onto the table and lean forward on the couch. So sue me, he intimidated me by doing that and I squirmed closer to Ranger. I looked up at Ranger and saw that he wasn't looking too impressed either, he was wearing his blank face as he looked across to Ehsan and we waited for his reply.

"Your face has haunted me ever since that shambolic display at that farmhouse. I have regretted every moment that I was involved"

"Why hurt Steph?"

Was Ranger's response and his voice certainly held a tone that implied that he wasn't happy with what Ehsan had said. Ehsan's eyes darted to Ranger and it almost seemed as though he was lost for words. He squeezed the top of his nose before sighing and sitting more upright on the couch.

"Maybe I should start at the beginning, then maybe you'll understand better. I fell in love with the woman of my dreams. She was my angel and I would have followed her anywhere. She wanted to go to Afghanistan, to reconnect with family and I suppose her culture. I went with her thinking that it was just a short visit, but it didn't turn out that way. We were married in her family's village with all of the ceremony that it involved"

Okay that supported what I'd found out about Fereshteh and the information about her being married.

"Fereshteh saw what was happening to the young girls and women and was appalled at how they were still being treated. I suppose the old ways of the Taliban were still active away from the cities. She became involved with a group who worked with these women and helped young girls to access education. I did IT work for various up and coming companies. We were happy and Fereshteh fell pregnant. Then she was murdered, and my world turned black"

I felt so sorry for this man sat in front of me and could understand what had happened. His story was the same as I'd found out so I had no reason to doubt him.

"What did you do Ehsan?"

"Well, Mr Manoso"

"Ranger"

"I decided that revenge would help, help me to come to terms with losing my wife and child. I trained in every way that I could. Then I passed myself off as an avid ideologist and joined several training camps. That honed my skills further until I was ready to vent my retribution. I infiltrated groups and planned for their massacre, but it only made me angrier. I came across Richard Ferdinand on one of my killing sprees and made sure that he was taken care of. Things became difficult when I found out that some groups were after me, so I made the decision to come back to the states while things cooled down"

"That's when you got involved with that scheme isn't it?"

At least now we could definitely say how Parker and Ferdinand came to know each other bit it surprised me that he'd returned to the States and looked for Ferdinand.

"Yes. I suppose I was lost and had no direction in my life. That woman Beth, she was a cold and manipulative woman and before I knew it, we were arrested"

"Her brother managed to escape being charged though"

"Yes, and I'm not sure how. Richard, though, he was medically and mentally unwell. I wasn't surprised to hear that he had died while in prison but it was the reception I received when I was released from prison that surprised me"

"Calhoun"

I saw that Ehsan was surprised that Ranger had mentioned that name and waited for what he would say. Leaving the talking to the two of them was very enlightening.

"Yes. My name had come to his attention as someone who could infiltrate and get things done"

"So he gave you the intel and a very nice paycheck"

"Yes. I became the man that was known as the dark angel. I had found a path to follow but I lost my humanity"

"This last job?"

"Calhoun told me that future jobs were going to finish and that he wanted me to revitalize America's fear of terrorism. His argument was that if covert work stopped then they would win. He knew how I felt about the insurgents gaining power"

"Why the diamond heist?"

"I wasn't aware of that until much later. Calhoun told me to reconnect with Beth and her brother, that there was an outline of a plan that had been discussed. Stealing the diamonds was Beth and Alan's idea, something that they'd become infatuated about doing and to be honest it gave me a cover for what I needed to do"

"Steph?"

I was surprised when Ehsan looked straight at me, but the coldness that I'd seen when I first met him wasn't there. There was something but I couldn't figure out what it meant. He looked back to face Ranger as he continued his story.

"She was there at that motel. Calhoun was the one who saw her, and he also knew that Steph was looking for Shane and Sophia. He had instigated a plan that Beth was all too happy to follow through on. It was a way to convince people that terrorists were active in the states. I was against it, but I didn't care at the time. Until I saw her"

Ehsan looked directly at me again as he said that making me feel very uncomfortable.

"My thoughts went to Fereshteh, she would have been appalled at what I was involved with. I was seeing pain being inflicted on you, everything that Fereshteh had fought against, for herself and for other women. I couldn't find a way out. I'm so sorry for what happened to you and I know it's no excuse, but I never once raised my hand to you"

I shivered as I remembered the pain that went through me at the time, every strike that had been done that had hurt me. Though I suppose apart from my cheek I had no broken bones. I looked closer at Ehsan, into his eyes and realized for the first time that he was right. I was remembering more of what had happened in that room. I'd been terrified of him because he was the man that I'd focused on because he was the one asking the questions.

"It was that other man who kept hitting me"

"Babe?"

"The other man, the small man"

"Jari?"

"Yes. I remember being frightened of you because you were asking the questions, so I was focused on you, but the punches came from somewhere else"

How had I not remembered that? How was it that Ehsan had been the one who had terrified me and not that awful man Jari? Maybe if I'd been brave enough and looked at a photo of Jari then those memories would have been clearer.

"Stephanie, I'm so sorry that I allowed that to happen to you"

Could I forgive this man sat in front of me for what he did? I wasn't too sure of that.

"Ehsan. I need to contact my team to check in"

"For them to be sure that you're still alive?"

"Something like that"

I watched as Ranger stood up and walked to the corner of the room and brought out his phone. I was very sure that there would be teams of Rangeman surrounding where we were and that if Ranger didn't check in with them then they would be prepared to storm the place.

"Stephanie?"

I looked up to see Ehsan looking at me.

"Please believe me when I say I would never purposely, seriously hurt you"

"Was it you that stunned me?"

"Yes. Beth and Alan wanted you executed as well but I said no. I had to compromise by agreeing for Jari to transport you to another location where I would have ensured that you were safe"

I wasn't going to describe to Ehsan how that turned out because I didn't think he knew about the contact lenses or wax that had been used on me.

"Who was Jari?"

"I didn't know him until I arrived at that farm. He was someone that Beth brought in"

We had totally underestimated Beth. It looked like Beth was the one who had an overall perception of what was happening.

"What were you supposed to do?"

"Calhoun told me to help Beth to set up the video that would be sent to the FBI. Then I organized for the explosions to take the power out"

"That was it?"

"Yes"

"Why kill Shane?"

"I'm not sure, Beth said that he knew too much and was threatening to tell the authorities"

I suppose with Beth and Alan dead we might never know the full reason and it only deepened my belief that Beth had been a very dangerous and greedy woman. She thirsted for power as well as money.

"I'll be honest Ehsan I don't trust you or particularly like you"

"I understand and didn't expect it from you"

"You still haven't said why you brought me here or how you found me"

I looked up to see Ranger sitting down next to me then turned to Ehsan waiting for his answer.

"I found out that you were safe at Rangeman but so did Calhoun. He was talking with Beth far more than I realized"

"And?"

Because that really hadn't answered my question.

"I suppose I saw you as someone who I needed to protect. I followed you when they took Ranger, but the car was empty, and it was then that I found out that another man had taken you. I was impressed when I heard that you managed to escape but I felt that I needed to find out more about him. It's amazing what men like him will say in a dark bar when they're drunk"

Well at least that answered the mystery of whose car it had been when I was hiding and who was looking inside the car.

"You were following Morelli?"

"Yes. I entered his house through the back door, but I admit it, I lost it when he grabbed hold of you and hit you. All I could see was Fereshteh and how she had been beaten to death"

"What now Ehsan?"

Yeah, I wanted to know that as well.

"I want an end to who I have become, I want to repent for what I have done and try to be the man that Fereshteh was in love with. The only way to do that is for Calhoun to fall from the ivory castle that he has built around himself. He thinks he has the right to perpetuate the actions of this man I've become, that he somehow owns me and can order and control me to continue killing people. I can honestly say that I hate his methods. He thinks that your death Steph will do two things. He rids himself of a witness and he gets Ranger back as his mercenary to do his special op work that he sees as so important"

"How will getting rid of me make Ranger do that?"

I really couldn't understand why Calhoun would think that, I mean Ranger had said that he wouldn't be doing that kind of work again and he'd spent so much time working on reorganizing Rangeman. Ranger took my hand in his and kissed my wrist making me look up into his face.

"Because like Ehsan, losing you would be unbearable, living would be impossible, so I would accept the jobs and not care what I did. You are my angel Babe, my light that guides me in a dark world. If I lost you, then I would be consumed by the darkness"

I felt tears in my eyes as he said that and suddenly everything that Ehsan had told us made sense to me. He was the same as Ranger but had lost his way because of Fereshteh's brutal death. Could I sit here and not understand why he had acted as he had. Could I forgive him when I knew that I would forgive Ranger? Probably.

"How do we get Calhoun?"

I focused back into the conversation between Ranger and Ehsan because it seemed we had a common enemy now and I was interested in what plans could be made to bring Calhoun to justice.

"It has to be something that proves his involvement in the video and the explosion"

"Ehsan, would Calhoun have taken a cut of the diamonds?"

Both men looked at me as though I was talking in riddles and maybe I was, who knew?

"I don't know. The fact that I wouldn't involve myself with anything to do with stealing those stones meant I wasn't privy to any of their plans. Yes, I knew they were going to use the distraction of the loss of power to steal them. Why, what are you thinking Steph?"

I was trying to figure out what we might have that Calhoun would want. Okay he wanted me dead, but I wasn't going to let that happen, and I doubted that Ranger would either.

"Ranger who actually knows what happened to the diamonds?"

I asked watching as he frowned at my question but answered me anyway.

"The FBI. They were the ones there when the diamonds fell from Beth's bag"

"What are you thinking Steph?"

"So, what would happen if Ehsan should say to Calhoun that he had more of them?"

"You mean tell Calhoun that Beth passed over some of the diamonds to me before she died?"

I thought it was a reasonable idea, but I just wasn't too sure how much information Calhoun would have or be able to get from the FBI. Then again, the only person who would really know how many diamonds were stolen would be Mr Edelson, and he did owe me for their safe return.

"It could work Ranger"

"Unless Calhoun knows through any sources that I'm sure he has"

I was smiling as Ranger said that because I knew that we could get around that.

"Suppose that the FBI officially reported that they collected, say 500 diamonds, and Calhoun knows that. What if Mr Edelson leaks out that there were actually 1000 diamonds but he couldn't say that to the FBI because that would get him into big trouble with customs or someone"

"I like how she thinks Ranger"

We spent another hour talking through ways that we could work it and in the end had a reasonably good working plan. The only disagreement came when I suggested that it was me who talked to Mr Edelson, especially as we didn't actually know who had killed his son. Could Calhoun have been behind it because I didn't think it was Ehsan as we had thought.

As we reached an agreement, of sorts, I knew I was feeling tired and I also knew that the Rangeman outside would be getting worried. As we stood up intending to leave there was just one other thing that was worrying me.

"Ehsan, does Calhoun know about this place?"

"No. Which reminds me, how did you find me Ranger?"

I turned to look at Ranger as he answered and wasn't too sure how he felt when he replied.

"I put myself in your shoes. Some where close to accessing major routes and an airport. Isolated yet in plain view. Large but defendable and didn't stand out. Oh, and close to the right places that served the food that I liked"

Hell, maybe they weren't so different, but I was so grateful that Ranger had never become as cold and detached as Ehsan had. It did make me wonder what Ehsan would do after this was all finished and if he could make that transition back into the light. As I walked back toward what looked to be the door leading from the apartment I stopped when I saw a large portrait of a very beautiful woman hung up in the center of the wall. I knew from the work I'd done on finding information on Fereshteh that it was her. I felt Ehsan behind me and had to say how I felt.

"She was a very beautiful woman Ehsan, she'd be so proud of you, to know that you were looking to change"

I had to admit that I did not like our journey out of that building. The elevator was one of those old-fashioned ones and you could see everything as we passed down toward the ground floor. Once we left the elevator, I found the building spooky and although I did appreciate how good Ehsan's cover was didn't mean that I had to like walking through there in the dark. Outside wasn't a lot better and I was relieved when Ranger led us to a gate and that the gate opened.

Once inside the car Ranger picked up his weapons from the floor and put them back into where they would normally go. I was surprised that Ranger had just walked into that building unarmed, it reminded me of another time that he'd done that and that hadn't worked out well for Ranger. Ehsan could have shot Ranger just as easily as Scrogg had shot him.

It wasn't long before we were on our way back into Trenton and I was aware of the cars both in front of us and behind us. It seemed we had our own protection detail surrounding us. I just bet they were dying to know what had happened. I rested my head against Ranger's shoulder, knowing that I was safe, and closing my eyes easily fell asleep.