Chapter 45
Was he serious? I looked down to the floor trying to think of something that would change his mind. I suppose a strange woman demanding to see Ranger would be an unusual occurrence. Then my doubts started to creep into my thoughts. What if Ranger had other women here in Boston and they thought I was trying to chase Ranger and he'd ordered that no women were allowed in the building? That was a sobering thought, but I couldn't just back away now.
"You can't do that"
How was I supposed to get a message to Ranger that I was okay if no one would take me seriously? I couldn't let him throw me out on the street, where would I go to?
"Can I at least use your phone to get someone to pick me up, please"
I'd hoped that if he thought that I would leave without a fuss then he might relent and allow me to make that call. As he sighed, I knew he was going to give in to what I'd asked. Now, I'd have to hope that Ranger would answer his phone. The phone was placed on top of the desk, but the man didn't back away. It seemed he was going to make sure that after my phone call I was quickly dispatched outside.
It seemed to take an age before Ranger picked up his phone, that had me worrying if he even had the same phone that I that I'd always called him on. I let out a breath of air when I eventually heard Ranger's voice, but I could tell from his tone that he wasn't happy about it.
"You had better have a damn good reason for calling me"
"Ranger"
The silence was disconcerting as I said his name, but I was praying that he recognized me and didn't finish the call.
"Babe. Where are you?"
"In the lobby at Rangeman Boston"
"Are you hurt, are you being followed?"
"Yes and no. Ranger I'm so sorry"
"Babe stay where you are, I'm on my way"
"They won't let me in"
I shouted out thinking he might disconnect the call. Hell, I had no idea how long it would take him to get here. What would I do if I was thrown out on the street?
"Pass the phone to the man on the desk"
I looked at the Rangeman as Ranger said that almost feeling sorry for what Ranger might say to him. Passing the phone over I gave him an explanation.
"Mr Manoso wants to talk to you"
It was always interesting to see one of the Rangemen squirm and that's exactly what this one did. He listened carefully before a "Yes Sir" and placing the phone back on the cradle and then he was just looking at me. I had no idea what Ranger had said to him and was waiting as yet again he picked up the phone. He turned so that I couldn't hear his conversation and then was left standing there with the Rangeman looking at me.
Minutes later the door at the back suddenly opened and a new man appeared. I wasn't too sure if he was surprised or excited at seeing me and was almost ready to take a step back when he approached me. He was as big as Tank but had short blonde hair and grey eyes and he looked just as formidable as Tank did. He stepped to my side and with his hand on my back literally talked and walked, guiding me from the lobby.
"I have to say that you were the last person I expected to see here. Carlos asked me to take you up to the penthouse until he gets here"
Okay, that sounded good to me, but who did he think I was, and who was he? Once in the elevator I saw him use a fob to activate it and watched as the numbers on the board went up. At 6 the elevator stopped, and the doors slid open revealing an area that had two doors leading from it.
"Carlos uses this apartment when he's here"
Was said as he opened one of the doors and ushered me inside. I kept on walking once inside, taking in the kitchen area and the couches on the other side of the room, being slightly surprised at the similarities between the two apartments. I turned and found that the Rangeman was stood watching me wondering what would be happening next.
"I'm Merrick, I manage the branch here in Boston"
"Hi, I'm"
"Oh, I know who you are and am so pleased to have you here"
Okay, that comment didn't sit well with me. How did he know who I was and why would he be pleased for me to be here?
"How?"
Was all I managed to say as I continued to worry what he knew about me.
"We've heard many stories about you"
"It wasn't my fault"
Came out as I cringed at what might have been said about me and all of my disasters that had encroached onto Rangeman came to my mind. The funeral home fire, the injuries to Tank, Hal been stunned and worst of them all the demise of Ranger's Porsche from a bomb and a garbage truck. I looked down at my feet feeling very embarrassed stood in front of this man.
"You helped find Ranger's daughter and discovered those kids who were stealing from clients, and let's not forget your help in bringing in some large bond FTAs"
I'm sure my cheeks flushed hearing what he'd said and hoped that they were the only stories that had been passed around.
"I'll organize with Alice for some food to be brought up, if there's anything else that you need just call down to extension 2 and I'll make sure it happens"
"Thank you, Merrick, but I think I'll shower and then try to get some sleep"
I watched as Merrick left the apartment before continuing through to the bedroom. The only real difference here was the color scheme. The walls were a pale grey with a darker grey carpet with the furnishings picking up a gold and black theme. In the closet I wasn't surprised to find several sets of cargo pants and T-shirts all with the Rangeman logo sewn onto them. There were several suits and shirts along with some expensive looking shoes that I assumed Ranger used for meeting with clients. I did find some silk boxers in a drawer that would be good to sleep in but decided against one of Ranger's T-shirts because I needed to wear the sling.
I closed the door and headed into the bathroom not really looking forward to showering seeing as my shoulder was hurting. Maybe I should have asked Merrick for some pain meds, but then again maybe not. I didn't want to have to explain myself yet. Once showered and dressed in the shorts and strappy top I pulled back the covers on the bed and slipped between the sheets. I almost moaned out loud at the softness of them, remembering their feel from the house and Ranger's apartment in Trenton.
Try as I might, I couldn't relax. I tried to turn over, but my shoulder wouldn't allow it and as I lay there of course my thoughts were going around and around in my head. Eventually I got up and took a throw from the bottom of the bed and went through to the lounge. Maybe watching TV might help me relax and for some reason the couch seemed more comfortable. Weird really because it had been the same at the house. I'd felt lonely in the bed on my own, or maybe it was habit now.
I tried to move my arm to scratch my nose and moaned as the pain shot through my shoulder. Turning onto my back meant my other arm was free but strangely the itch had gone. That was when I was so sure that I could smell Bulgari in the room and that was when it came to me exactly where I was. I didn't want to open my eyes because if I did the tears would flow more freely and I felt awful for what I'd done.
I deserved everything that Ranger doled out to me and knew that he'd probably insist this time that I was tucked up somewhere inside a safe house. A touch of something on my cheek had me moving back and opening my eyes. I knew there wouldn't be anyone here, it would take Ranger at least five hours to drive all the way her from Trenton. Yet there he was sat on the floor leant against the couch with his face inches away from mine. The tears just flowed as did all the worry that I'd been holding in.
"I'm sorry"
Was all I could manage to get out. Sorry for disappearing, sorry for not trying to get word to him, sorry for even thinking about not reappearing. But most of all sorry that I could be the one that could be his weakness.
"Babe, you did the right thing"
"No, I ran away"
I felt his fingers gently sweep down my cheek until they lifted up my chin to look into his eyes.
"You kept yourself safe"
"I wasn't thinking about me"
That certainly had him speechless and I was sure that a small frown crept over his face.
"What happened for you to say that?"
I didn't know what to say without me sounding selfish so for once I didn't say anything.
"Forget that, you're in pain and that shoulder needs looking at"
I looked down at my shoulder to a mass of bruising surrounding the joint and even though Freya had said that she'd looked at it knew I'd feel better if someone else examined it. I just nodded my head and then rested it against Ranger's forehead knowing that he'd take care of me. How sad was that. That I was so dependent on having him with me
I wasn't aware of the door opening or of anyone coming into the room so when Ranger moved away from me, I was surprised to see Bobby squatted down in front of me.
"Bobby?"
"I'm not gonna let anyone else look after you. What happened Steph?"
I could see Bobby looking at my shoulder as though trying to work out what was wrong with it and I suppose the way it looked suggested that it might be serious.
"The car I was in rolled and I ended up smashing my shoulder"
"Has anyone looked at it?"
I took a deep breath because this was all part of the story that I wanted to tell Ranger. I looked from Bobby to Ranger who was now sat on the arm of the couch before describing what I knew.
"A woman said that she'd examined it and that it was just badly bruised"
"Steph, I need to have a feel around the joint and move your arm just to be sure that the bone is still located in the joint"
As I sat up Ranger dropped from the arm and sat next to me. He had one arm around my waist and was holding my hand almost as if he was anchoring me in place while Bobby started his examination. His touch was gentle at first, but it was as he started to lift my arm that I knew something wasn't quite right. Pain roared from my shoulder down my arm and into my back to the point that I just wanted Bobby to stop what he was doing. As Bobby lifted my arm further he seemed to pull it out to the side. If Ranger hadn't been holding me, I think I would have bolted from the seat. I'm sure I screamed and I'm sure I felt something move before my world went black.
"Why the hell didn't you give her a local first?"
"It was too late. By the time I realized what was wrong it was easier to just do it"
"You do that again"
"I know, I'm sorry"
I heard a door open and close before I felt the someone next to me. I must have been on the bed because I could feel the mattress dip down. As I fully appreciated where I was and what had happened, I came to the realization that my shoulder didn't feel anywhere near as bad as it had done. I opened my eyes to see Ranger laid down next to me, watching me.
"Don't blame Bobby"
"He hurt you Babe"
"I know, but he fixed me, right?"
If I'd heard right then did that mean that Freya hadn't actually treated me, had she knocked me out and put a sling on? Why the hell would she do that, why lie like that?
"Babe, you said some woman treated you?"
"Yeah. She said she thought I'd dislocated my shoulder but then decided it was just badly bruised. She gave some pain meds, but apparently, I flipped out so she knocked me out"
"Flipped?"
"You know some meds make me nuts"
"I know. How does your shoulder feel now?"
"Better. What did Bobby do?"
"Relocated the bone back into the joint"
"Does that mean it came out again or does it mean that woman was a phony?"
"How about you sleep, and we can look into it tomorrow"
I didn't want to wait until tomorrow before baring my soul to him so literally burst out what had been worrying me the most.
"I'm sorry for disappearing, sorry for not trying to get word to you, sorry for even thinking about not reappearing. But most of all I'm so sorry that I could be the one that could be your weakness"
"Babe, what are you talking about?"
I knew that I wasn't making any sense when I said it so decided that maybe I needed to tell him why, though I was sure he'd already worked it by now.
"I was picked up at the train station by the FBI. They were the same ones that Joe had worked with on that case"
"The ones that you and Hector did the searches on?"
"Yeah. They made me change my clothes and sneaked me out of the building in an old car"
"I know, we followed the trackers to the FBI building in New York City. Where did they take you?"
"I'm not sure but it was just Desilva and Roberts there with me. I was scared because Hector and I were sure that Roberts was dirty, so I told Desilva that Roberts was on the take"
"I saw his financials and came to same conclusion"
"While Roberts was gone, we left the house but were chased, which was when the accident happened. Desilva had his girlfriend meet us just as another car turned up"
I wasn't too sure what had happened after that because I must have passed out, but it seemed that Ranger knew something.
"What do you know?"
"We found a car in the ditch and two men who'd been shot dead"
That had me frowning, I mean did Desilva do that or Freya. Did they do it in self defense or to protect me, or to stop someone else getting to me?
"The girlfriend is involved. Somehow her father found out that his older brother had developed a program that was worth a lot of money. He wanted to sell it or get Hisence to manage sales from it so that her step brother would inherit the wealth and power from it"
"Who was the father"
"Sean Daraldson who I think is Seang Dara"
I wasn't explaining this very well but hoped that Ranger could unravel what I was trying to say to him.
"Desilva thinks that you still have the program and will sell it to the highest bidder. He said that I'm your weakness. That everyone knows you'd do anything for me, even give up the program to ensure that I stayed alive"
I watched as Ranger absorbed that piece of information and my heart dropped. It was out in the open now and he'd admit that it was right. That I needed to be as far away from him as possible.
"Is that why you panicked and ran away?"
I nodded my head at him but couldn't look at him. As his hands came to my cheeks, he lifted my face to look back at him.
"Then I would have found you, just like you found me"
I closed my eyes as what he'd said sank in knowing that in the end my heart had led me to make the right decision. I was so thankful for those words that Father Thomas had said to me. Love makes you stronger when you're together.
"I knew I needed to get away from where I was, but I couldn't risk calling you in case someone saw you and tried something. Father Thomas was going up to Boston so offered to take me. I was going to disappear so you'd be safe but when I got here, I couldn't stay away from you, I love you too much to do that to you"
"Babe I'm so sorry that I did that to you in the past, so I understand how you were thinking"
I moved forward and kissed him gently, nipping and biting his lower lip until he relented and deepened the kiss. Suddenly I felt so much better as though being together made me feel stronger and more confident.
"How did you get here so fast?"
Because it suddenly occurred to me that it had only been a couple of hours since I'd phoned him.
"An alert went out of two men being shot and killed, so we scoured the area. Santos discovered some men at a local church. Apparently, some woman was raising a stink because a blanket had been stolen from her car and ended up in the yard sale"
I hadn't even thought about the blanket. I'd needed something to keep me warm and had left it at the church not realizing that that damn woman would notice.
"We found out that the priest was driving up to Boston so were already on our way when you called. Santos and Hector went to check the warehouse, while I came here with Bobby, so I assume whoever was following you know that you're here"
I was so glad that I'd come here instead of staying and working there, but even more glad that Ranger was here with me.
"Father Thomas said love makes you stronger when you're together, I think he was right"
"Sleep Babe. We're both safe here"
And I did as I felt his arms around me and heard the beat of his heart under my face.
Waking up with Ranger next to me was one of my favorite things to do. I know I sighed taking in his smell and feeling relaxed.
"Morning Babe"
"Hi"
Okay not very eloquent, what can I say, I was quite happy where I was especially now that Ranger was with me. Which reminded me that I'd never asked him how it went with his family.
"Was everything okay with your family?"
I felt his hands going through my hair as his head settled back into the pillow.
"I think they were still hoping that I was alive. They know the work that I do is dangerous which is why I tend to keep my distance"
"So a good reunion?"
"With my parents, yes"
I detected something in his answer as though he was thinking about something that had been said.
"What aren't you telling me?"
"My sisters and brother were there with their respective spouses. One of the husbands was really pissed off. Seems he'd already decided how he was going to spend their share of the money"
"He knew the terms of the will, he'll get over it"
Ranger bent over and kissed me on the forehead as a small laugh came from him.
"I never did like him anyway"
"Did you get to see Julie?"
I asked wanting to change the subject and knowing that Ranger had been trying really hard to develop a relationship with her.
"Yes. She was hurt and then angry, but we talked, and I think she understood"
"She'll have had so many emotions running through her"
"We're good now but Rachel wasn't pleased to see me back. I think she was the one who gave the media the story"
I raised my head to look up at Ranger's face surprised that Rachel had behaved that way. Why wouldn't she be pleased that Ranger was alive, surely she'd want to see Julie happy knowing that her father was still alive. Or was that it? No Ranger around and no potential trouble for her and let's not forget the money she would have received.
I wasn't going to push Ranger on that and hoped that when he was ready, he'd talk to me about it. I snuggled closer to him instead thinking that I could stay here for a little bit longer. Almost as if he sensed what I was thinking Ranger moved slightly which had me looking up at him.
"Bobby will be here soon. He wants to check out your shoulder"
I hadn't moved it and had no intention of doing that, but I had to admit that it wasn't hurting as badly as it had done, more of an ache really. As Ranger got out of bed, I watched him as he walked toward the bathroom door. He was wearing silk boxer shorts low on his hips giving me a perfect view of his back and thighs as they rippled underneath his perfect skin. He must have felt me watching him and turned to look at me when he reached the door.
"Babe, you know Bobby is going to say no exertion for a few weeks, don't you?"
"I know, but it won't stop me from appreciating the view"
I'm sure he was smiling as he disappeared from view. I pulled back the covers and carefully stood up from the bed, keeping my injured arm to my chest and then looked around wondering what on earth I could wear. Getting dressed was going to be a problem so having clothes that I could put on easily was going to be important. I spied a robe on the back of the door so having pushed my good arm through the sleeve I tied the belt with my injured arm secure inside and went through to the kitchen.
I wasn't too sure who was the most shocked, me or the petite woman setting out plates on the breakfast bar. I didn't know what to say and was pleased when she spoke first.
"Good morning. You must be Stephanie, I'm Alice. I have your breakfast here. I spoke to Ella and she told me the things that you like"
"Oh. Hi. Thank you"
I have to say I was still speechless and watched as her attention moved toward the bedroom door and as Ranger walked out.
"Your breakfast is here but I think maybe you'll need to help Miss. Stephanie with hers. I'm sorry dear I had no idea that you'd done something to your arm"
"Thank you Alice. I'm sure we'll cope"
I watched as the exchange between Alice and Ranger came to an end and as she walked from the room, smiling back at me. That reminded me to ask Ranger how Merrick knew of me and what he knew, I hated the idea of stories about me being known at the other offices. I sat at the bar and lifted the dome on one of the dishes to find a plateful of waffles with a small pot of honey next to them. I'm sure Ranger sighed as he stood next to me and started to cut them up.
"What do people know about me?"
"That you sometimes work for Rangeman"
I stabbed a piece of waffle as he said that and started to eat it. Wow these were as good as the ones that Ella makes.
"Merrick seemed to know who I was and Alice said that she'd spoken to Ella"
"Ella loves having you at Rangeman Babe so I maybe she's told the other housekeepers about you"
"I hope she only told the good stories"
Came out of my mouth totally by accident.
"Babe, everyone at Trenton boasts about you. How determined you are and how good your instincts are"
"Does that mean everyone knows about the disasters I get into?"
"No. They love you too much to ever say anything like that. Well, except for maybe the Porsche"
I dropped my head onto my hand as I thought about that and how much anyone who had heard would be appalled by what I'd managed to do.
"Babe, everyone knows that a bomb had been planted on it and that the garbage truck was totally coincidental. They were concerned for you, that someone would go to those lengths to stop you and are always asking how you are doing"
Okay that did make me feel better, but I was sure that a lot of the men would be wondering exactly what was going on between Ranger and me. It might be fun to just observe how they reacted to me. I finished my waffles and had taken my plate to the sink when Bobby walked through the door and asked me to sit down. I have to say that the shoulder didn't hurt as much this morning.
"Steph, you need to keep it immobilized for now. You can stop wearing the sling after a few days, but it takes about 12 to 16 weeks to completely recover from a dislocated shoulder"
"When can I start to use it?
Thinking that even 6 weeks seemed too long let alone 3 months.
"You'll be able to resume most activities within 2 weeks but should avoid heavy lifting and strenuous shoulder movements for between 6 weeks and 3 months. I want you to do some simple exercises to strengthen the muscle and stabilize the joint"
Okay that seemed fair enough and 2 weeks wasn't that long to wait as long as I could manage simple things.
"Is it hurting Steph?"
"No not really. Bobby, had she relocated it, or had it been ignored?"
"I think maybe she tried to manipulate it but unless you're used to doing it then it can be difficult to tell when it's in the right place"
That didn't really give me the answer that I needed because I couldn't decide what Freya had done or if she was competent enough to have tried. I needed to run a search on her.
Bobby pulled up the robe, so it was covering my shoulder again, but I knew that I needed to get dressed. Once Ranger had let Bobby out of the apartment, I waited for him to come back into the lounge.
"Err, Ranger. I could really do with some clothes. I don't have anything here"
"Alice has some for you. Are you okay to shower on your own and I'll go fetch them?"
"Sure"
Was all I could think to say wondering how Alice would have clothes for me, unless of course she was related to Ella and had the same good taste. I found that I was very careful with my shoulder not wanting to aggravate it so washing my hair was a major task one handed. Once finished I wrapped a towel around me and went through to the bedroom. Laid on the bed was some panties but no bra. Okay I assumed that Alice would think that the straps might dig into my shoulder. There was a pair of black jogging bottoms with an elasticated waist and narrow legs which were surprising easy to pull up and a sleeveless T-shirt with a built in sports bra.
The outfit was complimented with a style of cardigan that fastened across to points on the shoulder and then went down to just below my hips and again was easy to put on. I placed the sling back on my arm and slipping my feet into canvas ballerina shoes was almost ready for the day. The thing that I couldn't do with one hand was tie my hair back and with it drying from being wet the curls were becoming unruly. Back in the bathroom I found one of Ranger's leather ties so twisted my hair until it was over one shoulder before fastening it with the tie.
Once in the lounge I looked for where Ranger might be and was surprised to find Hector sat at the breakfast bar.
"Hector"
I knew I could never sneak up on him so decided to get his attention. His smile was genuine as he turned to me and I went and sat down next to him interested in what he was doing on the laptop in front of him.
"I'm sorry Estefania for what happened at the station"
"Not your fault Hector"
"How did they know that you'd be there?"
It was something that I thought I already knew but wasn't too sure whether to tell Hector or not. Then as I thought it through, I decided why not? Joe had done nothing to help me, in fact I was sure he was the reason the FBI knew I'd be there. Did Joe think he could walk into that office and I'd beg him to get back together, to see him as my savior?
"Joe. My mother told him, and Joe told the team he'd worked with from the FBI"
I could see that Hector was annoyed at hearing that, so I tried to diffuse the situation.
"Joe turned up when I was there but couldn't seem to do anything to get them to release me. I don't think he imagined that the FBI would pick me up"
"Idiota"
"Agreed, so what are you doing up here?"
"Ranger said that you had two more names to find out about"
I did, didn't I? So sliding the laptop in front of me I saw that Hector had already opened up the search program so I input Sean Daraldson into the search. I knew that he'd been born in 1958 but wasn't so sure that the search would have him as being born in Cambodia. Not much to go on but seeing as he wouldn't have a history before 1980 then it would be easier to identify him. I clicked on the icon to start the search and reopened the page for a search on Freya Daraldson with her being born in the USA in 1981. All we had to do now was to wait for the program to do its magic. As that worked, I turned to Hector who was watching me, curious as to what else had happened that Ranger hadn't told me about.
"How did you know that those two men who were killed had anything to do with me?"
Because that was what had Ranger looking in that area for me.
"That FBI agent, Craig Roberts was one of the men who was dead. His name came up on the police scanner. We suspected he had something to hide from the searches you and I had already done so we headed out there. From there we did a grid search and Santos was suspicious of other men doing the same but for some reason they were focused on an area further north"
Okay, I knew the next piece of the puzzle because Ranger had told me about interest in that damn blanket at the church. It just made me curious as to who was giving the orders to those men.
"Hector, you know how you set up a board when you are following up on someone?"
"You want to do that?"
"Yeah"
There were so many names now that seemed to be involved in finding this program that I wanted a visual of everything that we had. Maybe there might be links between some of them that we didn't know about but what was worrying me the most was how this was going to end.
"Ranger intends to go back to Trenton this evening, that will be the best place to do that"
I was okay with that happening, I mean I knew the guys well at Trenton whilst I had no idea about any of the Rangemen here. It would mean that I could also catch up with my parents and friends as well. While I considered that the laptop pinged indicating that one of the searches had finished with a second ping telling us that both were complete.
I opened up the one on Sean Daraldson first curious as to what he'd done once here in the States. As I suspected there was no history before he'd entered the country, but it gave the name of his wife, daughter and his business interests since entering the country. It did make me wonder how Sean had managed to start a business, unless of course he'd had access to money that he'd got hold of from Cambodia. I wasn't too sure what had happened to the wealth of people who were slaughtered, maybe that was something I'd look at when I had the time.
Sean was married very quickly just as Freya had said and he was recorded as working in the family business. It seemed he didn't need any money because from the look of it Sean had been made to work his way up, regardless of the fact that his new father in law owned the business was into making paper providing materials from books to stationary to the paper that newspapers were printed on.
When his wife's parent's died, he was ensconced in management and took on the role of CEO. It wasn't long after that when the company started to go downhill. I looked at the date when that happened and couldn't decide if it was because Sean had neglected the business or because of the move away from paper based products toward electronic media. I turned to Hector surprised that he was working at another laptop wondering where it had come from.
"Hector, what do the financials look like for Daraldson's company?"
He opened up a tab that had everything on a spreadsheet that showed the yearly income and outgoings of the company.
"It was making a tidy profit until here"
A look at my search had the date coincide with before Daraldson took over. Once he became CEO the profit margin started to reduce.
"Where was the money going?"
"I took at look at Daraldson's finances, he was leeching money from the company"
"So there wouldn't have been the capital to reinvest as technology gained momentum"
"Probably not. The company is filing for bankruptcy"
"The money Daraldson took?"
"Gone. I'm still trying to figure out what he did with it"
That supported what Freya had said about her father, and the state that his company was in, but where had all the money gone that he'd taken from the company and if Freya's mother was part owner how had she not seen what was happening. That had me remembering that Freya had said that she'd inherited family money through a trust fund set up by her mother.
Were Sean and his wife the type of married couple who had separate accounts and their own sources of income? I know when I married Dickie that he'd insisted on joint accounts with both our wages going in and both of us able to withdraw money. I'd paid for that when I divorced him because I'd been landed with half of his debts. Maybe having separate finances was a better way to keep control of your own money.
I decided to open the search on Freya and looking over to Hector watched as he typed, seeing that he was chasing up her financials. Her history was as expected, she'd been a bright kid and had attended medical school. Freya had obtained her medical degree though I was very interested to see that she had only done one year in residence. Why would she do that, I mean she was just about there.
Looking further down, her occupation was listed as a physician's assistant but that came to an end eight months ago. I suppose she might have been qualified to look at my shoulder but how she had dealt with it showed a lack of expertise. After that there was nothing. In fact, the only address listed was the same one as where she had lived as a child. That was probably the house where I'd met her but what had she been doing for the last eight months.
"Anything for Freya for the last eight months Hector?"
"Nada. Any accounts only show the usual payment against bills. Nothing coming in"
She had said that she'd gone home to look after her fatherso maybe that's when he took seriously ill.
"She told me that she inherited money from a trust set up by her mother"
"Then she must have accounts that have been hidden"
Was that woman hiding something? I had no idea what. Did that mean that Desilva knew what she'd been doing? I remembered her saying that she treated Desilva for an injury and that she'd then asked him to find out about the state of her father's business. I minimized the report that I was looking at and found the report that had been run on Desilva. I could remember reading through it but now I went straight to his medical history. Desilva had a few incidents where he'd ended up in hospital, but they were all after Freya had finished her residency.
There was one occurrence more recently, two years ago, when Desilva had a scare in relation to stomach problems. He'd had a variety of tests done but all had been negative, so the cause had been put down to stress. It was really uncanny how similar Desilva was to Joe, even down to the issues with their stomachs. That must have been when he'd met Freya, just before she went off the grid.
I saved the reports and closed down my laptop feeling really disappointed at the lack of information that we'd found. In fact, we had more questions now than we had before. Hector did the same, but he stood up from the breakfast bar and picked up his laptop.
"Don't be disheartened. You'll work it out"
I heard the door open and then close and assumed that Hector had left the apartment but stayed sat where I was. It didn't surprise me when I felt arms go around my waist because I had felt the comforting feel of the tingle on my neck that told me Ranger that was nearby.
"Not such a good morning Babe?"
"Not really"
And now I was questioning what that meant. Questioning how the hell we sorted out the mess that we were in. Ranger moved to sit in the chair that Hector had vacated, moving one hand to cup my face.
"Talk through what you're thinking"
"This program. I understand it's potential and how it would endanger so many people, especially you. I understand why people would want it, for money and power, maybe revenge and power"
I watched as Ranger nodded his head and as he stayed quiet waiting for me to continue.
"A lot of people think that you have it so at the moment that's what is motivating them to focus on us. But why? I mean it could be possible that you don't have it or know where it is so why are they so sure? What would happen if that damn hard drive was destroyed? What would it take for them to leave us alone?"
"Maybe the man who I met saw me take it"
"Maybe. Narong Seang wrote the program, then his brother Sean got hold of it. Maybe he stole it or threatened Narong, I don't know. Sean then used Maia to set up a rendezvous point because he wanted to get it to Coleman. Maybe Narong panicked and asked for help from our government which had you going to that meeting"
I knew that I was talking as I was thinking but somehow it seemed to make sense to me. Ranger stayed quiet but I wasn't too sure how long he would let me ramble through these ideas.
"Maybe that man that you met was there to meet someone from Hisence. You were gatecrashing their exchange and somehow they found out, so set up the explosions and ambush. I think that Freya pretended to be Sean when she spoke with Maia by email, or she read Sean's emails"
"That would account for how someone knew about the meeting and where it would be but how did my handler get that information?"
A second person knew about the rendezvous and informed his handler knowing that they had to stop the program getting into the hands of Hisence. But who could that have been? I stood up without saying anything to Ranger and walked to where I thought his home office should be only to find a small closet full of coats and shoes.
"Babe?"
"I need some paper and a pen"
As I went back to the breakfast bar Ranger fetched some paper and pens which it seemed were kept in a drawer underneath the coffee table. As he placed them on the bar, I took a sheet and pen and started to write down names of anyone we'd come across.
These were the names that I wrote down.
Handler
Government officials (army)
Troy
Jack
Sean Daraldson
Narong Seang
Mystery man at rendezvous
Maia
Juan
Coleman
Jin Reyes
Freya
Desilva
Craig Roberts
"Have I missed anyone out"
Ranger was busy reading through the names when I suddenly remembered a person that I'd missed out and added him to the list.
Sean Daraldson's illegitimate son
"I think you need to set up a board for all of this"
"I know, I said that to Hector"
Looking at the list helped me to feel more in control, as though writing down the names gave solidity to what we were up against. I could understand why someone would want control of that program but there were still things that were bothering me. I wrote the heading, Questions, next and started to bullet point my concerns with Ranger still being quiet while he watched me.
Narong Seang. Could he write the program again, did he have more copies and if he was so worried about it why did he write it in the first place and not destroy it?
Juan. Who did he get his information from?
Jin. How did he know so much about what the program could do and how does anyone else know?
Who is the illegitimate son?
I looked at Ranger as he read through those questions and watched as he added one more.
What is on the hard drive? Do we destroy it?
It had never occurred to me that anything on the hard drive might be useless. In some ways it could make perfect sense. What if Narong had been forced to write the program but had made it useless or it was beyond his ability to complete? If he spread false information to various people including Ranger's bosses, then he'd know that the rendezvous might go wrong and that the hard drive might be damaged or lost for good. That would let him off the hook from the threats because he'd apparently done as he was asked. So, who was Narong talking to so that information was leaked out?
"We need to find Narong Seang"
Ranger smiled as I said that, and his hand came to my cheek again before he leant forward and swept his lips across mine.
"Babe, I love watching how your mind works"
I frowned not really sure what he meant by that, was it a compliment?
"It's a compliment Babe. You use logic yet are creative in how you pull things together, you're also good at bringing things down to basics and then extending your thinking out from there"
I'm sure my cheeks heated up as he said that because I wasn't aware that was the method that I used, but on thinking about it maybe it was. I knew that I would look for patterns when I looked for my skips, relying on finding their habits before coming up with some hairbrained idea for catching them that no one else would probably think of. I shook those thoughts from my head, I needed to think about the future and not the past.
"What time are we leaving for Trenton?"
"You know?"
I just nodded my head because I didn't want to get Hector into trouble for letting that piece of information slip.
"After dinner, are you okay with going back?"
"Yes. I'm going to lie down for a while. Would you wake me in a couple of hours?"
Ranger's response was to help me down from the stool and with arm around my waist led me to the bedroom. I was ready for a lie down not only because I felt tired, but my shoulder was aching as well. I'd probably overdone things using the computer and writing things down. Once in the bedroom Ranger stood in front of me and undid the top, letting it fall to the floor. Next his fingers caught the waist of my leggings and very slowly eased them down to my ankles. I held onto his shoulders with one hand as he bent down to release my feet and was left standing in my panties and a T-shirt. I could feel the tension in the air as Ranger slowly stood, sweeping his eyes up my body until he was looking me, his dark brown eyes looking into mine.
Anticipation was rolling through me and my breathing quickened as every nerve in my body tightened and started to tingle. Ranger took a step forward and with his hands on my face brought his mouth down onto mine. It was gentle and passionate, and I closed my eyes but way too short before I felt myself being lowered onto the bed. I thought that Ranger would follow me but when he didn't, I opened my eyes to see him leant down over me with a somber look across his face.
"Babe, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get you all worked up"
"But"
Why had he stopped, was it something that I did?
"Babe, I don't want to hurt you and I can see that you're in pain?"
My head fell back onto the pillow as I had to admit that he was right. Sighing I saw that he was thinking about smiling and if I could have done, I would have thrown the pillow at him. I watched as he left the room and getting myself comfortable, I willed myself to sleep.
It was soft kisses on my face that woke me, and I was smiling before I'd even opened my eyes. Once open I saw that Ranger was laid down beside me.
"Dinner's here"
"Okay, do I have time to shower?"
"Yes, but be quick, I let you sleep a little longer than I should have"
I followed him from the bedroom, going into the bathroom. As I stood under the hot water, I felt myself waking up more. I still felt tired, probably with the weird dreams that I'd been having. I wouldn't say they were nightmares, more memories of people that I'd seen and places that I'd been. It was probably all the thinking that I'd been doing with Ranger before sleeping. I used a towel to dry myself then with it wrapped it around me went back into the bedroom. I smiled when I saw some night clothes laid out on the bed, no doubt Ranger had left them there for me.
Holding a brush in my good arm I was trying to pull it through my hair without pulling my hair out. Not easy to do with one arm in a sling. As I walked to look and see what was for dinner Ranger was pulling out a chair for me. I felt the brush being taken from my hand and I felt him gently brushing my hair, holding it close to my head so as not to hurt. I couldn't work out what he was doing as he brushed it from the back but a minute later my hair was out of the way, so I felt around to find it tied up in a ponytail at the back of my head.
"When did you learn to do hair?"
I asked, curious at how a man who was badass most of the time could be so gentle and efficient.
"I had sisters Babe"
And that was all that he would say on the subject. The meal prepared was a stir fry so was easy for me to eat and tasted really good. I was quiet as I ate but then again so was Ranger making me wonder what he was thinking. As I finished my last mouthful, I looked up to see him looking at me. I wiped my face with the paper napkin thinking maybe that I'd spilled some of the food, but as he continued to look at me he was making me feel nervous.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I had a conversation with Santos and Hector about what you wrote down"
"And. They didn't like what I was thinking did they?"
"The opposite. I've arranged to meet with my handler"