Chapter 41

"Miss Plum, you need to come with us"

Frowning I looked up to see a tall man stood in front of me with two other men now approaching me from each side.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"You need to come with us"

I stepped back only to bump into a fourth man stood behind me who suddenly took hold of my arms with the feel of cold metal fastening around my wrist. The man on my right took my bag from my hand before both of my wrists were firmly cuffed together.

I could see the concern on my father's face and the way my mother turned away as though she were trying to appear that she didn't know me. Les was trying in vane to get past the boundary onto the platform and Arlo couldn't get close to me now that I was hemmed in by the four a man on either side of me and one behind me the first man turned and headed toward a door that had the sign "Staff only" written across it. I tried to pull toward my Dad, but hadn't a chance of changing direction so shouted out to him.

"Dad, call Tank"

Whether he heard me or not I wasn't too sure because I was hustled quickly through the door.

"Who the hell are you"

"FBI Ma'am"

Came from behind me.

At least we'd stopped long enough for me to see who I was dealing with. I was livid.

"What the hell are you doing?"

That's when the man in front of me turned and looked at me. I had a horrible feeling that I recognized him from the time I'd been in Rangeman watching the surveillance cameras and again outside the hotel in New York.

"I want to see some id. You have no right to just grab hold of me. I haven't done anything wrong"

A wallet was held in front of my face for me to see the badge and id of the FBI agent, yeah, you guessed. Antony Desilva was the name on the card, so I was guessing that the other three were probably Thompson, Roberts and Miller, though they didn't offer for me to see their ids.

"Miss Plum. We've been looking for you for a long time. We have questions that we need answers to"

With that statement Desilva turned around and continued down the narrow hallway. My arms were being held by two of the men on either side of me almost to the point where they were lifting me off the floor. I had some questions for them as well, like how did they knew the exact time that I'd be arriving at the station. I'd only told my Dad that in order for him to meet me and take me home and I knew he wouldn't have told anyone.

By now we'd reached a second door that looked like an emergency exit where Desilva hit a bar for it to open. Once through the door I could see that we were in a parking area and heard the blips of a car opening. All too soon I was bundled into the back seat between two of the men and Desilva was accelerating up a ramp and onto the street. I tried to look around at where we were going but mainly to see if there was anyone following us. Having my wrists handcuffed together wasn't helping and to be honest it was very uncomfortable especially as Desilva was swerving the car past other drivers.

It didn't seem long before we were driving through some gates that led down into an underground car park. I had no idea where we were but something about the place felt familiar. No one said a word as I was moved from the car and walked to an elevator whose doors were already open. I watched the numbers as we rose all of the time feeling more nervous as to what exactly they wanted with me so started to go through my alibi in my head. At least it gave me something to concentrate on.

When the doors slid open it was to an empty corridor with lots of closed doors leading from it. Desilva opened one of the doors and stood to the side as I was led inside. Great, just what I needed, a room that to me looked like an interrogation room. Not that I had been in many before, but it had the uncanny resemblance to those I'd seen in films. There was a metal table that seemed to be bolted to the floor with a single metal chair next to it and that's where I was unceremonially pushed onto.

I was so relieved when I felt the cuffs being unfastened from one of my wrists and brought my arms forward to rub the area on my wrist that was hurting. I groaned as I moved my shoulder feeling the effects of where I'd been shot for the first time in ages and tried to bring up my hand to rub it, that's when one of the men took hold of my arm and suddenly the cuffs were back around my wrists.

Looking at the table I worked out that the cuffs went through a large ring on the top of the table. Looking around it was a totally ordinary room, black vinyl on the floor with walls painted a cream color. In front of me looked like a mirror covering one wall but having the imagination that I had, I assumed it was a one way mirror and someone could watch what was going on in the room. No doubt there was a camera somewhere and probably microphones to record any conversations.

As I continued to look around Desilva brought up a chair and sat opposite me at the table, placing a file down in front of him. It seemed like an ordinary brown file to me but I did see my name written on it even it was upside down. I braced myself for what was coming, there was no way that I'd let Ranger down so I had to make sure that any answers I gave didn't give anything away.

"Miss Plum. May I call you Stephanie?"

"What do I call you?"

"Desilva"

Okay this is where I made my stand.

"You can call me Miss Plum then"

I wasn't sure if he was amused or not at the answer that I had given him, but no way was I going to get all friendly with this guy.

"A few weeks ago, you were on Lafayette Street, why was that?"

I frowned as though trying to remember though I was surprised that he was starting his questions so far back.

"Lafayette Street, the one with all the offices on?"

"Yes"

"That's an age ago. Let me think. Oh I remember, I had a skip to find"

"A skip?"

Surely he knew what I meant by that but if he wanted the long answer to his question then I'd play that game.

"I'm an apprehension agent for Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. My job is to bring in people

who miss their court case"

"Miss Plum I know what your job is. Lafayette Street?"

"One of my skips worked at an office there so I was looking for him"

"Did you find him"

"Yes"

Where was he going with this conversation, what was it he wanted to know, or he thought he knew?

"Who was the man?"

"Err, he had an unusual name, Chad maybe?"

"Chan"

"If you say so"

"What happened"

"I took him into the police station"

I watched as Desilva sat back in his chair, I couldn't work out if he was annoyed with me or amused.

"Did he talk to you, tell you anything?"

"No. I seem to remember that he was very polite and came with me quietly"

I was answering him honestly by saying that and hoped that this little meeting was over.

"What about Manoso?"

"Sorry?"

I wasn't expecting him to ask about Ranger so the surprise in my voice was genuine.

"When did you last see him?"

I leant forward at the table and started to play with the chain around the cuffs trying to remember exactly when it was that I'd last seen him in Trenton.

"He helped me bring in a skip, Dougel, because he was more violent than the file I had said. There was an incident at the station where Dougel was shot and killed. Ranger took me home and told me he was going to one of the other offices. That's the last time I saw him"

I remembered the kiss that he had given me that day before he'd left, how could I forget.

"I think that was a few days before I got the file for Roan"

"Did you hear from him, did he phone or email you?"

"No. The next thing I knew I was being told that he'd died"

I looked up to the ceiling as my eyes watered and then blinked pushing two tear drops to fall down my cheek. I quickly used my fingers to wipe them away and went back to looking at my hands.

"Are you telling me that you had no contact with Manoso?"

I just shook my head not really knowing whether to say yes or no. I mean did I say yes to agree with what he'd said or no that I'd had no contact? Stupid really but it had my mind wandering away from my surroundings.

"Miss Plum"

I looked back up to Desilva who shook his head.

"I asked you why you left Trenton and disappeared"

"I was a mess. I hadn't realized how close I was to Ranger. My boyfriend and I had split up and suddenly I had Ranger's men constantly with me. I felt stifled, I had to get away"

"Where did you go?"

Okay this was it, the time to give him the story that had been put together.

"I went south, down to the Keys. Then slowly worked my way back north. I actually missed my family and friends and felt guilty for just leaving"

"She's lying"

That being shouted from behind me made me jump, shit how had I forgotten that there was someone else in the room?

"No, I'm not"

Desilva got up from his chair and walked behind me, with me turning to follow where he was going. He picked up my bag and threw it at the other man, both of them seemed at odds against each other which had me confused now.

"Go through it"

Was all Desilva said before they both walked out of the room. Seeing as I was on my own, I laid my head down on my arms and tried to take my mind off the situation I seemed to be in. Would Tank or Les be able to get me out of here? I wasn't too sure about that. If they did then that would almost be saying that I had something to hide. No, I had to play along here and hope that Desilva came around to believing my story.

I was sure that I heard shouting from beyond the door, hopefully there was someone out there that was arguing in my favor, I could hope, couldn't I? Imagine my surprise when in through the door walked Joe. As I watched him walk to the chair that Desilva had been sat in I could see that he looked annoyed, his face was red, and his jaw was tense. His hair definitely needed a trim and was curled down over his collar. He still looked good and as he sat forward, I could see why I'd fallen for his charms. Not now though, even when his expression lost the blank face and he smiled at me.

"Joe, are you here to get me out of here?"

I saw the way his shoulders slumped so already knew the answer.

"Why are you here then Joe?"

"To try and sort the mess out that you've got yourself into"

I'm sure I raised my eyebrows at that because as far as I was concerned, I hadn't done anything to warrant him accusing me of being in a mess let alone it being my fault.

"How did you know I was here?"

"News travelled quickly of what happened at the train station"

I didn't doubt that. Hell, the local gossip mongers would be having a field day and I could just imagine what they were saying. That brought back a question though that had been bugging me ever since I'd got here.

"How did the FBI know I'd be getting off that train?"

Now it was Joe's turn to look embarrassed, well more than that, I'd say he looked as guilty as hell.

"You told them?"

I all but shouted at him.

"Why would you do that, all I wanted was to come home and see my family and friends. I saw you as a friend Joe"

"I'm sorry. I didn't think they'd pick you up. That's why I'm so annoyed. I've been fielding questions from them since you left. What else was I supposed to do?"

"I suppose my mother told you?"

"Yes. She was another one constantly asking me where you'd gone"

I was so annoyed how once again my life seemed to be an open book for anyone to delve into. I was upset with my mother, though could maybe understand why she'd done it, but Joe?

"Unless you can get me out of here, just go Joe"

As Joe leaned forward and made to take hold of my hands I pulled back as far as I could, given the fact that the damn cuffs were restricting my movement.

"Where did you go Cupcake. I was worried about you?"

I almost rolled my eyes as he asked the question because there was no way I would trust Joe. Did he really think I would say anything different to him than I'd said to Desilva? I remembered the last time he'd lied to me, how he'd blamed me for ruining his chances with the FBI. Did he think he'd get into their good books by getting me to say something? No, that wasn't going to happen as all those feelings of mistrust and betrayal came back to me.

"I told you I was leaving town and why. I headed down south and found beaches and sunshine. All I wanted was some space to evaluate me. To work out what was important to me and what to do next"

"You didn't need to leave Cupcake, we could have worked it out"

He was like a record that was stuck in a groove. I was pretty certain he'd have been seeing other women so why play the down beaten boyfriend? I laid my head down on my arms again hoping that Joe would get the message that I didn't want to talk to him.

"Cupcake"

"Just talk to me"

"I'll go see if I can get you out of here"

I heard the chair scrape on the floor and then heard the door open and close. I just stayed where I was because I didn't want someone to try and analyze me through that mirror.

I wasn't sure how long it was before the door opened again but I was keen to look up at whoever was coming in. Hopefully now they'd let me go as they'd had an age to go through my bag and verify what was in there with my story. I was surprised when the two men who walked in weren't any that I recognized, and my eyes were drawn to a plastic bag one of them was carrying. My hopes went up as the cuffs were unlocked from around my wrists and I was soon standing up ready to go. That's when one of the men stood in front of me.

"Ma'am, we need you to change your clothes"

What? Why would I need to do that? What the hell was going on now?

"You have a choice. You can change on your own in a ladies room or we can help you in here"

For once I was speechless, but I had the feeling that he was serious.

"Why?"

Okay it may have a stupid question to them, but it wasn't to me. As one of the men started toward me and grabbed hold of the bottom of the hoodie that I was wearing I batted away his hands. It seemed he was being very serious at what was going to happen next. I grabbed the bag form his hand and stood with my arms wrapped around it almost using it as a shield against them.

"Where is the ladies room"

I was led through the door, one man in front of me and one behind. The ladies room was literally opposite from the room I was in, so I was soon inside a cubicle looking through the bag. I had no idea why I was being asked to this, I mean I knew there wouldn't be any forensic evidence on my clothes for them to find.

As I pulled things out of the bag it wasn't just clothes it was everything. From underwear, that looked like sports wear, to black leggings, a black T-shirt a hoodie that fortunately came down below my backside. Socks and trainers completed the outfit making me feel as though I should be visiting a gym any time soon. I pushed the clothes that I'd been wearing into the bag, wrapping my bra and pants tightly inside the jeans. The idea that someone would be handling them made my skin crawl.

Stepping from the room the two men were stood either side of the door and Desilva was leant against the wall opposite me, watching me. One of the men took the bag from me but Desilva continued to just look at me.

"Jewelry"

Was all he said as he continued to stare at me. I removed the stud earrings from my ears and held them out to him, watching as he passed them to the man carrying the bag that held my clothes. The earrings were dropped inside with my clothes. As Desilva continued to stare at me I pulled down the neck of the hoodie to show that I wasn't wearing anything else. It dawned on me then that somewhere in my clothes there might be a tracker, Hector would know that anything could happen where I was concerned. The worry I had was whether the Merry Men would realize that I didn't have any trackers on me now. I saw Desilva nod his head and it was déjà vu all over again as my arms were pulled behind me and cuffs tightened around my wrists.

I was back in the elevator heading down when I just knew they weren't going to let me go. I had a horrible feeling go through me as I stepped back out into the garage. Then it hit me, this was where that stupid Russian tried to attack me, and I totally lost control of myself. I felt someone push me forward toward a car, not the one that I had arrived in, and that's when I suddenly started to panic.

"What's going on, you're taking me home, right?"

I didn't get an answer, instead I was pushed into the back seat of the car with one of the men following me in. Desilva got into the driver's seat and started the engine then just waited. I started to look out of the window and that's when I noticed two SUVs pulling out of the main entrance of the car park. I could hear talking coming through from a speaker at the front of the car and listened, curious as to what the hell was going on.

"On our way"

"Go slow and steady, make sure anyone following can keep up with you"

"Affirmative. Already picked up a tail"

"Taking alternate route"

I was staring at the radio where the voices were coming from trying to work out what the hell was going on when it dawned on me. The SUVs were a decoy making out that I was inside one of them. I was almost ready to shout out even though no one would be able to hear me and then thought about what I'd heard. The Merry Men would never be seen tailing a car they were too good at it so who the hell was following them.

I felt the car start to move and then I was pulled down so that I was laid across the back seat with the man who had been beside me now on top of me. I was definitely beginning to panic now because I really wasn't sure if these men were the good guys or not. I mean Hector and I had decided that Craig Roberts was probably on the take, but I had no idea who the man on top of me was.