Chapter 48

It was a good job that we didn't have to leave the house until later in the morning. We'd spent the night constantly seeking each other out, to touch and feel and to explore. It had been a mad dash when we'd realized that we'd slept in, that by the time we were in the car I already felt exhausted.

I smiled almost laughing thinking that I'd totally ruined Ranger's calm and almost Zen like persona as we dashed around madly to get ready, forgetting that it was Hector with me in the car.

"Estefania, what's so funny?"

I looked over to Hector regretting that lapse of focus only managing to blurt out one word before I embarrassed myself.

"Nothing"

Hector resumed concentrating on driving, I'm sure making sure that we didn't have a tail. Apparently, a team was already keeping watch of the building where Grandma was living and according to Hector all was quiet. I wasn't too sure what greeting I would get from coming here. Yes, my Grandmother was keen to see me, but as usual she'd been more enthused to tell me about the men who lived there. The telephone call had consisted of her trying to compare her sex life with mine which had me regretting having made the call in the first place.

As we pulled up outside the building I looked around before getting out. It looked a nice place to be, with gardens and seating areas in front of a modern looking building. I turned as Hector touched my arm and saw the watch and a panic button he held in his hand. I fastened the watch around my wrist and placed the panic button in the front pocket of the jeans that I was wearing. Opening the car door, I pulled a jacket on, relieved that my shoulder felt so much better, and with my bag over my shoulder started to walk up to the main entrance surprised that I needed to be buzzed in by a member of staff.

Hector has decided to stay with the car as he was happy with the security of the place. I thought it was because he just didn't want to have put up with my Grandma and her wandering hands or hear her latest sexual exploits. I didn't have long to wait before I heard the clicking of the door and was able to push it open. As I walked up to the reception desk a young woman stood up to greet me.

"How can I help?"

"I'm here to see Edna Mazur"

I saw the smile cross her face as she looked at me.

"Her Granddaughter Stephanie Plum?"

I wasn't too sure why she was smiling at me but had a horrible feeling that maybe my Grandmother had told her everything about me.

"Your Grandmother's expecting you. If you walk down to the end of this corridor, I think she's in the conservatory"

"Thanks"

I turned and started to walk in the direction the woman had told me, admiring the décor of the place. Okay, I knew it was a new building, but it felt as though someone had thought through the layout. On my right was a wall of glass that overlooked the garden area with doors on my left. The floor was tiled, and the walls were painted a soft yellow with some nice artwork on the wall. As I approached the end of the hallway, I could see the arrangement of couches inside and some single chairs surrounding low coffee tables. The room looked bright and sunny and welcoming.

I stepped through the door hoping Grandma was here because I really didn't want to have to return to reception in order to find her. The room actually looked empty at first glance but the sound of talking had me moving left toward a corner and there chatting away was my Grandma. As soon as she saw me, she was on her feet, her arms outstretched to hug me.

"Baby girl it's so good to see you. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine Grandma. It looks like a nice place here"

"It is. Let me show you around"

We spent the next 30 minutes walking around the building with Grandma showing me areas like the dining room and lounge and they even had a media room where films were shown twice a week. Each time we came across someone on my tour Grandma would introduce me to them and spend a few minutes talking to them. Her apartment looked out onto the back of the property, overlooking trees before the view became a row of houses.

It was probably smaller than my apartment had been but the way that Grandma had arranged things it felt comfortable. When she asked me where I had been, I stuck to the story of heading down to Florida. I couldn't burden her with the truth and not because she might let slip to someone else the details it was because I just didn't want to her to worry. It was strange really because we never spoke of my parents and when I tried to broach the subject, she would divert the conversation to something else.

It was as we returned to the conservatory that she suddenly stopped me.

"Steph, I forgot to take my pills. You go in and wait for me. I usually sit over there by the window"

I'd walked over to where I'd seen her sat but when I'd arrived and turned to sit down, I stopped on seeing someone already sat down at the table.

"Sorry, my Grandma said she normally sat here. I'll find another table"

Turning I was surprised when I heard a man's voice as he spoke out to me.

"Please, I'd appreciate the company and Edna has told me so much about you"

I was inwardly cringing at what stories might have been told but I suppose my Burg manners kicked in and I thought I might as well talk to him, especially if he was a friend of my Grandmother's. As I sat down, I could now clearly see the man and couldn't help but stare at him as I slowly lowered myself into the seat.

He was obviously a resident here with long grey hair and I watched as he removed his metal framed glasses from the end of his nose. I knew his face and was sure I was frowning at him, but he never said a word. Instead, he seemed to be waiting for me.

"Narong Seang"

Came from my lips as I whispered the name out loud. His clothes might be smarter, pressed grey shirt and smart trousers but it was definitely a face that I recognized. His lips lifted in a smile reminiscent of how Ranger would smile, before he lifted his hands together and placed the tips of his fingers at the bridge of nose.

"What, how?"

"I wanted to know who you were. I assure you, finding a place to live here where Edna lives was a total coincidence"

"Why would you want to know who I was?"

"You were an enigma to me. This pretty woman who came from nowhere and saved the life of my Grandson and brought him back to me"

A memory came back to me of conversations that seemed to be from an age ago. Daniel whose girlfriend was missing her son and couldn't meet with Daniel because the Grandfather had arrived. Narith saying that sons and grandsons had gone missing and were now reunited with family.

"Your Grandson was being held by Ronteah?"

"Yes. They tricked him, told him I wanted to see him and took him"

He had never denied that his name was Narong Seang so is that who he was?

"I never accounted for someone like you turning up"

"Me?"

"Yes you. You single handed brought Ronteah to their knees at a great cost to yourself. That confused me, why you would do that"

I didn't want to have to explain to this man my reasons for doing what I did. Hell, at the time even I was confused with exactly what I was doing.

"They blackmailed you"

"They threatened to kill my grandson, so I had to play along. I had no choice and agreed to hand over a program that I'd developed"

That confirmed that Narong Seang was responsible for developing that program and for some reason had arranged for it to be picked up by Ranger. Okay I needed to get some answers because at the moment I was getting confused with what he had done.

"The program?"

I watched as he sat forward in the chair and looked down at his hands before he looked back at me and continued.

"I ended up living in Vietnam and worked for a private company. I was good at what I did and developed some programs that could break through encryptions to collect together information. By sheer fluke I discovered a way to utilize the program to access more sensitive material. The next thing I knew I was being harassed to make it available"

"Do you know who it was?"

"No. I have no idea"

Oh shit, was I the one to tell him that his own brother was the one that had instigated the threat?

"You know who it is don't you?"

"Your brother"

Just came out of my mouth something I instantly regretted as soon as I'd said it from the look of shock that came to his face.

"How do you know it was him?"

"That's what his daughter told me"

I watched as he looked at me, really looked at me making me squirm in my seat.

"You really are an enigma. Your Grandmother wasn't exaggerating when she said that

you had this amazing ability to find things out"

I wasn't too sure if being called that was good or not, but I wanted to know more.

"How do you think your brother found out?"

"It all makes sense now, I suppose. My assistant, his father had been a soldier with the Khmer Rouge so he would probably know my brother"

I wanted to move away from the area of his brother being the one who had betrayed him because the only evidence that I had was what Freya had told me. I could also see that the news I'd given him was causing him some anguish.

"But you also informed the American government and agreed to hand it to them"

"Yes. I'm sorry. I never expected that something would go so wrong or that good men would be killed"

"Was it your assistant who went to the rendezvous?"

"Yes. Tao Long. I trusted him. He knew what I was planning"

"So he must have let someone else know of the rendezvous"

"It all makes sense now. I was devastated when Tao told me what had happened and said that he didn't know who had the program. I just assumed the man, Manoso, would have no problems and get the program out of the country"

This whole thing had been a disaster from beginning to end and somehow it needed to be resolved.

"I was so worried what might happen to my grandson, what they might do to him. That's when I decided to visit my daughter in law and found out about that company Ronteah that was operating in that area"

"Why insist on who was to be at the rendezvous"

"Manoso. He's the best of the best and I knew that he would succeed where other men would fail"

"A lot of people are after that program Narong"

"Please. I'm known here just as Ron. Do you know who has the drive?"

"No"

The lie slipped easily from my mouth because I just didn't know what else to say. Besides Ranger didn't have it, it was only me who knew exactly where it was.

"Ron. What does that program do?"

"As I said it can bring together a wealth of information from systems that are supposedly secure"

I closed my eyes as he said that, basically confirming the far reaching consequences and just how dangerous it would be in the wrong hands. I suppose Ron hadn't seen another option if he were to save his grandson.

"Why the American government, I mean if this program works so well then they could use it as well?"

"Charnley agreed that it would be destroyed"

That was a lot of trust to put into one man. Hell, the power that could be wielded was unimaginable. Would Charnley really have destroyed it, and why didn't he order Ranger to destroy it as part of the mission?

"Can it be replicated?"

"No. As I said it was a fluke that it even worked and needed another program to run in the background for it to function effectively"

That meant that it would be useless unless someone had the necessary programs to enable it to work, maybe that was what Narong was counting on when he handed the damn thing over. The problem was knowing who had that program and could make the drive work.

"Could someone have obtained those from your assistant, Tao?"

Ron closed his eyes as he considered the ramifications of what I'd asked, I suppose trying to decide if that could have happened.

"I don't know. As soon as I'd transferred the data onto the drive, I deleted everything else, well I destroyed all of the electronic systems. There would be no way to access any of it now"

I sat back trying to think if there was anything that he could tell me with my mind immediately thinking of his family. Surely, he wouldn't be here if they weren't safe.

"Your family?"

"I relocated them to somewhere safe where no one can find them, though my daughter didn't like it she knew it had to happen"

"Why don't you talk to your brother and sister?"

He scoffed as I said that, and I could a hardness in his eyes.

"My brother resented me, hated me really. That I was out of the country when Pol Pot started his regime didn't help. Seang really believed in their indoctrination and Pagna was easily led by him. When I turned up for my father's funeral, they accused me of deserting them and of having abhorrent political ideas. I'm almost certain that it was Seang who turned on me and betrayed where I was staying. My wife died, but I managed to get my daughter to safety"

That explained the rift between the siblings and to be honest I didn't blame Narong for how he felt. There was no loyalty between the brothers so Seang wouldn't have had a conscience at threatening Narong or his family. As we sat in silence, I was going through everything that he'd told me wondering how the information he'd told me could help get rid of the men that seemed to be after Ranger and me. Well, me really, which was beginning to baffle me slightly. Movement caught my attention so looking up I saw the figure of my Grandma approaching us, a smile on her face as she looked from me to Narong.

"You two have a nice chat?"

I'm sure I rolled my eyes at her comment because it seemed to me that she'd set it up for Narong to be able to talk to me.

"She's just as you said Edna. Those stories you told me make sense now though she looks far too pretty and innocent to have achieved so much"

I was pretty sure that Narong wasn't talking about the stories from Grandma when he said that. I looked over to my Grandma who had now sat down with us and felt her pat me on my arm. I couldn't be mad at her because she was one of my most avid supporters, but I still shook my head at what she told people. I was sure that Grandma would have talked about Ranger, the hot bounty hunter with the great package who her granddaughter was in love with. Would Narong put together that Ranger was the man, Manoso, he had insisted on travelling out to Cambodia?

I was saved by the sound of my phone going off with an incoming message so bent down and removed it from my bag to read the message. I smiled seeing that the message was from Ranger and that he was outside waiting for me.

"I have to go Grandma"

"So soon, I've hardly had a chance to talk to you"

"I'll come back and see you"

"Well I suppose it gives me time to have something to eat before the bingo starts"

I was glad that Grandma seemed to be taking advantage of the facilities here, it meant she was less likely to get into trouble, well maybe. As I stood I reached my hand out to Narong pleased when he accepted the offer but surprised at what he said.

"Next time you're here maybe you can tell me the end of that story"

At least that implied that he was going to be staying here and maybe it was a good place to stay. Once I'd said my goodbyes, I was keen to leave the building. I felt that so much had come to light this afternoon and wanted to talk it all through with Ranger.

Coming through the door I was surprised when he suddenly appeared next to me and guided me with his hand on my back quickly toward a black Cayenne. Once I was inside, I noticed that he seemed to be tense, his eyes constantly scanning around us. I felt the atmosphere was slightly tense as Ranger started the car and drove out onto the street. Then I remembered the subject of the meeting that he was going to this afternoon.

"Ranger. Did you learn anything?"

"Yes"

Ah shit, one-word answers, but it confirmed that the tension was coming from him.

"We don't have to go to my parents for dinner"

"We're going"

I felt really uneasy as he answered and decided to look out of the window instead. Obviously, he wasn't going to tell me anything which made me feel, I don't know, unimportant and that he was insistent that we still went to my parents made me feel guilty. I was sure that Ranger had better things to do than have to go there with me.

As we pulled up in front of my parent's house my mood wasn't any better. I was anxious of coming here in the first place without carrying around the conversation from Narong and Ranger's silence. I made to open the door, when it opened for me with Ranger stood holding his hand toward me. He was looking around us and at no time did he actually look at me in the face. As we reached the front door I knocked and opened it shouting out as I stepped inside. It was awfully quiet until I reached the door to the front room where the sound from the TV greeted me.

"Hi Dad"

I said as I opened the door and saw him sat in his chair.

"Pumpkin, you're early. It's so good to see you"

The idea had been that by being twenty minutes early it would give me a chance to catch up with my parents.

"It's good to be here Dad"

We both turned and left the room heading through to the dining room. Ranger had been waiting for me and as I passed him, he followed me through. Hell, he was behaving like a bodyguard and I wasn't too sure I appreciated it inside my parent's house. The dining room table was set for four which surprised me unless my Dad had guessed that Ranger would be with me. As I stepped through to the kitchen, I was pleased to see that my Dad had Ranger held in a conversation.

"Stephanie"

"Hi Mum"

"Well, I suppose I should be happy that you're eventually here. Mrs. Donavak's daughter didn't go running off without keeping in touch with her mother. Maybe I could cope with that but seeing you arrested by the FBI, I had to unplug the phone"

"It was a misunderstanding Mum"

"Giving the wrong time or buying too many doughnuts, those are misunderstandings. How could you do that to me?"

My shoulders slumped as she continued to work at the stove without even looking at me. I knew that whatever I said it wouldn't placate her. Hell, I had weeks of her derogatory comments to catch up with, all her pent-up anxieties to field. As I looked down at the floor waiting for her to start on me, I had the wind knocked out of me and found myself being held tightly by her.

"I was so worried about you. If you'd only married Joseph, then none of this would have happened. If that man hadn't died, then none of this would have happened. Please tell me that you've decided on a safer job and to settle down and that you'll seriously look for a man that can look after you"

As I absorbed what she was saying I couldn't believe how she could still berate my choices while hugging me. I pulled away from her and found myself stepping back into two strong arms supporting me around my waist. I could tell from my mother's expression that she was shocked to see Ranger stood behind me.

"I have no regrets about my choices Mum. Joe never treated me right, he hurt me, so finishing with him was the best thing that I ever did. That Ranger never died saved me Mum, because he's the only man for me"

I turned around and moving from Ranger's arm walked back into the dining room with the intention of continuing out of the house. The look on my Dad's face had me slowing down until I was stood in front of him.

"I'm sorry Dad. I can't do this, not when she constantly tries to run my life"

"I understand Pumpkin. I think she feels that that she knows what's best for you in order for you to stay safe"

"That's not me. I'm chaos not compliant. I do the unexpected not what people expect me to do. Today someone called me an enigma, which is probably true"

I walked past my Dad with tears in my eyes pulling the front door open only to have another person stood in the way. This person, who looked incredibly young just smiled at me and thrust a bunch of flowers toward me. I had no idea who he was, I mean I'd remember a man with red hair and freckles all over his face, wouldn't I?

"You must be Stephanie. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm so pleased that your mother invited me for dinner"

That was the last straw as far I was concerned but I knew I couldn't take out my anger on the man stood in front of me. I pushed the flowers back to him and as politely as possible stepped passed him.

"Stephanie Plum isn't here, but I'm sure Mrs. Plum will be pleased to see you"

Was my parting comment as I started to run for the car. I saw the lights blinking so knew it was open as I pulled on the handle and got myself in. I even managed to have the seatbelt fastened before Ranger was sat next to me driving away from the house.

I leant my head against the side window as tears slowly leaked out from my eyes. I'd thought after I'd finished with Joe that my Mum and I had come to an understanding. I'd built up my defenses against her and she seemed to be coming around to my way of thinking. What had happened to change that? I'd seen her every week for dinner and spoke to her regularly. Hell, she seemed to be trying not to mention Joe and marrying him and after that first stranger that she invited, it didn't happen again.

My job was going well and there were no disasters, maybe that was why she couldn't criticize me. Tonight she'd shown her true colors again, I suppose the saying was true, "a leopard can't change its spots" which explained why my mother could never change her innate nature.