Chapter 38

It was the smell of coffee that had me coming slowly awake. I tried to stretch but found that I couldn't because my feet were hitting something hard. I wasn't sure where I was but felt the texture of a pillow under my head and between my arms. As I opened my eyes, I was aware of the bright sunlight coming in through the windows and then saw Hector in the kitchen area. Immediately I knew that I must have fallen asleep on the couch and then panicked that I'd maybe dropped the laptop. As I sat up the blanket that was covering me fell away making me wonder what time it was if Hector had found me and made me more comfortable.

I didn't think that I'd made a noise, but Hector soon turned around and looked at me. He smiled as he walked toward me carrying a mug in his hands.

"Good you're awake"

"What time is it Hector?"

"Mid day. You need to try and get yourself into our time zone"

Yeah, like that was about to happen, though I knew that I'd have to do it and do it quickly. I was pleased to see the laptop safe on the coffee table, along with the note of paper with the names on it. I picked it up as I sipped at my coffee totally aware that Hector was sat down next to me.

"FBI?"

I wasn't too sure that I was pleased that Hector had seen that. I mean now that Ranger was reporting in, maybe no one would be looking for him now. They'd assume that he didn't have the hard drive or that he'd handed it over to his bosses. Maybe Ranger didn't want anything more to do with who was after that hard drive, happy that he could have his life back. And here I was trying to find some leads to solve the whole damn thing when maybe I didn't need to do it.

The problem was that I wanted, no needed to do it. They'd nearly killed Ranger and me as well and if that program had been sold then everything about him could have been found. From all the jobs that he'd done to personal information about him and his family. He wouldn't cope well with that, hell he'd spent his life protecting those people close to him from any enemies that he had, and I wasn't about to lose him from my life again just because he thought it would be safer for me. So yes, I was going to do everything I could to stop that from happening and I was almost sure that Ranger would want to as well. I turned back to Hector realizing that he was waiting for my answer.

"Yeah. We met a man who said that there was someone in the FBI who'd tipped off a man of interest"

Hell, I felt I was talking in riddles with Hector because I wasn't sure how much he knew or even if I should tell him.

"Hector . . "

"Estefania, I know everything. Santos made sure of that so that I could be here to help you"

"Help me?"

I smiled over at Hector remembering a conversation that I'd had with Les on the flight back home. He'd suggested relaxing while I waited for Ranger to come home, but I'd argued that I wanted to find out more on the men who might be after Ranger.

"These were agents working on the Coleman case?"

"Yes. Maybe one of them can lead us to Coleman"

"How did you get these names?"

Maybe I turned red at that question, I know I looked away from Hector and down to my hands. I already felt guilty for what I'd done and didn't want anyone, least of all Hector, having a go at me.

"You did good Estefania"

That had me remembering the mention of a woman that maybe Coleman had used, and I was trying to work out how I might be able to find her. Then it came to me, Lula, she'd still know some of the women working on the streets so maybe she could help.

"Estefania, did you hear what I said?"

"Sorry, I was miles away"

And it suddenly hit me, what Ranger had said to me. "If you stay with us, then you have to become a part of the team. No disappearing or suddenly chasing after something on your own. I have to be able to rely on you Steph, to have our backs as much as we have yours"

I felt a hand on my face and had my head turned until I was facing Hector not really knowing what to say because what I was thinking was exactly what would really annoy Ranger. I didn't want that to happen, for me to think that he didn't trust me, so I had a decision to make. One that went against every instinct that I had. I had to tell Hector what I was thinking.

"Where I found those names, it mentioned that Coleman used a prostitute. So I thought that if we could find her then she might know more about him"

I watched as Hector continued to look at me as though he was thinking through what to say to me.

"Okay. Let's look at what we do. We have four names to follow up on and I have a program that won't set off any alerts. What were you thinking of doing to find the woman?"

"Lula. She still knows some of the girls on the job or she may know of some of the more up market ones, you know the ones who work as escorts"

"So maybe we can backtrack the money?"

"You mean try to find a payment? How do we do that if he's so well hidden?"

Hector used his finger against my nose making me frown at him. How did he think that would work?

"He wouldn't use a name that could lead back to him, so we look at that company, Hisence"

Okay, now I could see where he was going with this and I realized that how he'd suggested following up the leads that I'd found meant that I wouldn't need to leave here.

"Maybe we could match a payment to one of those FBI agents?"

"At last, now your mind is following a different direction that could still find us our answers without putting yourself out there and bringing attention to yourself"

Okay, I had to admit that Hector's way was a lot better than the idea that I'd had, plus, it meant that I wouldn't be doing anything that would annoy Ranger and that had to be a good thing. I wasn't going to let Hector know that he'd made me though.

"I'm going to get showered and dressed"

"I'll make lunch"

That sounded like a plan to me though I had to admit that I wasn't feeling particularly hungry, maybe that jetlag and my body clock being out of kilt was responsible for that.
After taking an amazing shower I decided on some joggers and a hoodie to wear, to me I was feeling a little cold after soaking in a hot shower. Once I'd dried my hair, I was ready to go downstairs and went in search of Hector.

I found him sat at the breakfast bar already eating so hoisted myself up onto the barstool next to him. I was surprised at what was on my plate and normally I'd have been eager to eat everything there. Now though I was struggling with only a few mouthfuls. I was thankful when Hector stood up and took his plate to the sink, at least I didn't feel as though he was watching me.

"I'm going to do a check around the perimeter and then we can get started on that work"

I watched as Hector left the room, pretending to put a mouthful of food in my mouth as he turned at the door and looked back at me. As soon as I heard the door close, I was off the seat and scraping the food from my plate into the garbage bin. I washed the plate and cutlery and left them to dry before going over to the window. It had been too dark when I'd arrived to look outside but now, I felt I wanted to do some exploring of where I was.

I was surprised at the scene I was looking at. Okay, not so much with the area closest to the house. Here there was a deep verandah that seemed to stretch the width of the house with chairs and tables on it. It was the area beyond that had me mesmerized. It was like looking onto a mirror, the sky above with the white clouds and patches of blue reflecting perfectly on the still water. On the horizon I could see trees, lots and lots of trees. I turned back to the room and was about to walk over to the shelves and have a nosey there when Hector came back in.

I wasn't sure how long I'd been working on the laptop for. I was using a different search program to the one I usually used at Rangeman, apparently it had some added layers to it so as not to send up an alert, or something like that. I'd input the names of the four FBI guys and was running them simultaneously flicking between them as details came onto the screen and writing down details that I felt were important onto a pad of paper.

I rubbed at my forehead to try and rid myself of the low throbbing that was beginning to build up, but I was determined to find something. The searches of the men didn't reveal very much and there were no photos to go with the names which I found strange, though maybe as agents they might have to work undercover so their faces would need to be kept out of any files.

Two of them looked as though they'd been recruited straight out of university while the other two had moved from the ranks of the police department. For some reason it was the first two that came up that I had the most interest in. I passed the details for all four of them over to Hector for him to add to the financial searches that he was doing.

I decided to delve into the man named Gareth Thompkins first, well into his family. I wasn't sure why, but I did it anyway. His parents were down in Florida at a place that looked like a gated community. There were two children, Thompkins, who was 35 and a younger sister aged 27. Both had been born in New York City where their parents had both been accountants running their own company.

The second name that I looked at was Anthony Desilva and from the initial information that I read it seemed that he was older, at 42. He was one of the men who'd transferred over from New York PD. That had me thinking back to Joe and how his dream had always been to work with the FBI. I suppose that the work the FBI did might be more challenging and possibly a bit more varied, but it still entailed areas similar to what Joe had done as a detective.

Desilva's background was of a kid who'd grown up in Soho, an expensive area of New York City. It looked as though there was only his mother who had brought him up. The mother had been a personal secretary so probably worked at a fulltime job. Desilva had not done well at school but didn't look to have any police record. 18 saw him signing up for the navy where he seemed to have done quite well before returning to New York and joining the police force. He'd moved up the ranks there as well and had been a detective before leaving to join the FBI. Looking through the cases that he'd closed it seemed he'd worked in most departments and had been a homicide detective when he left. Hell, the similarities between him and Joe sent a shiver down my back but that's where it ended. His mother had died after he'd left for the navy and he had no siblings or even a wife. This guy was focused and looked to be relentless in how he worked, but could he be the one who was working with Coleman? For some reason I didn't think so.

I pulled the blanket that was over the back of the couch down over my shoulders, feeling chilly again and rested my head back against the couch. To be honest I felt like shit, which was unusual for me. Maybe coming back into a cold and damp climate from the heat of Cambodia was what it was, or even breathing in the recycled air of those planes.

"Estefania?"

I didn't have the energy to reply to Hector, it didn't sound as though he'd found anything important.

"Estefania, are you alright?"

"Tired, cold"

Was all I said as my body suddenly started to shiver. I was aware of the laptop being taken from me and being laid down on the couch. I wanted to say thank you to Hector but wasn't sure if I said it or not, I was too focused on stopping the little men with their jackhammers breaking out of my head. I was almost sure that Hector was talking to me and I think he swept my hair from my face.

"Steph, Honey, wake up for me"

I couldn't understand why I was hearing Bobby. Why was he here, how was he here, wasn't he still in Cambodia? I felt my arm being unwrapped from the blanket and try as I might, I couldn't pull it back into me.

"Steph, I need to take some blood"

"No, why?"

"Steph did you have vaccines before you left, when you were in New York?"

I nodded my head because I'd hated the idea that I'd actually volunteered to have someone stick a needle in me.

"What about tablets Steph?"

"Tablets. Steph did you take tablets?"

I nodded my head again. I'd gone for ones that you took once a week and knew that I'd taken some. Then it came to me, after being shot I didn't have them with me. I'd kept them in my washbag and that had been left at the hotel in Siem Reap. So I shook my head quickly.

"I took some but then got shot"

"Okay, Steph, I'll get this bloodwork done. I need you take some medication with a drink of water. It'll make you feel better"

I opened my mouth and felt a small tablet on my tongue and then was gladly drinking the water. I just wanted to sleep and get warm and comfortable.

I knew that something had woken me, and that this time I wanted to open my eyes. My head didn't hurt as much, and I felt warm and comfortable. I was sure that hadn't been the case though, because in my mind I had vague memories of someone wiping my face and forehead with something wet and cool. I was almost sure that someone had given me tablets and tipped my head back for me to drink water. What the hell had been wrong with me? I remembered my head aching and feeling so cold that I was shivering, in fact it wasn't just my head that had ached, every muscle in my body seemed to have come out with the same ache.

I slowly opened my eyes as I felt a touch on my cheek and was staring at the face of Hector looking at me.

"How are you feeling?"

Looking around I saw that I was in bed upstairs but couldn't for the life of me remember what had happened. I slowly sat up and leant against the pillows behind me and noticed that I was wearing a strappy top, not really sure how that had happened. I looked up at Hector as he sat down on the bed beside me feeling more than embarrassed when he started to smile.

"What the hell. What happened?"

Hector took a breath before looking into my face.

"You started burning up and were almost delirious. I had to get Bobby out to look at you"

"I've been ill?"

"Si. He was worried in case you had malaria"

I shook my head slightly, trying to rid the cobwebs from my brain.

"I was that ill?"

"Yes"

Then it dawned on me, had those odd bites when I was with Juan caused me to get malaria? I felt stupid for allowing that to happen and wasn't it just my luck that a damn malarial infested mosquito chose me to bite. Once again Hector was laughing at me, but for the life of me I couldn't work out why.

"You had flu. Santos came down with it not long after you and according to Bobby he doesn't do well when he's ill"

I could just imagine that from Les knowing how grumpy he got when he was injured.

"Was I the same?"

Shit I hoped not, then again, I couldn't remember much that had happened and I didn't think that I'd been ill with the flu before.

"No, you slept. I just had to make sure you were kept cool and drank enough fluids"

Now I was embarrassed, I couldn't imagine Hector doing that for me. Who would have thought that he could be so caring?

"Thank you Hector, for looking after me"

"De nada. You have someone wanting to speak to you"

He handed me a phone and then got up from the bed and disappeared through the door. Bringing the phone to my ear I was curious as to who would want to talk to me, maybe it was Bobby checking up on me.