Chapter 26

SPOV

I knew that I wasn't alone when I woke up again but I also knew that it wasn't Ranger who was with me. Opening my eyes, I saw the green eyes of Les looking at me and a big smile on his face.

"Hey, nice of you to join us. You have a nice trip?"

I lifted my hand to punch him on his arm but felt it being caught by his.

"How're you feeling Beautiful?"

I thought about that and tried to catalogue what my body was telling me. I had some aches on my head, shoulder, elbow and hip but for some reason still felt very tired.

"I'm feeling fine Les. Can I get out of here?"

His smile got bigger and as I watched him turn his head, I rolled over onto my back to see who else was here.

"Hi Bobby"

Not really surprised at seeing him here as well. Would he let me get out of here and to somewhere more comfortable?

"Can I go up to seven? Please Bobby. I'll feel so much better being there. Not that I don't appreciate having been here"

The serious look on Bobby's face gave me a reason to pause my pleading.

"What's wrong Bobby?"

Because for some reason I was feeling that maybe something bad had happened. I could remember Ranger being here before but then it hit me, the accident.

"Is Ranger okay, was he badly hurt in that accident?"

Bobby's expression relaxed as he came and sat on the bed next to me.

"He's fine. A bump on the head and a bruised leg but that doesn't stop him Steph. It's you we were so worried about"

"Me?"

I knew I had a few bruises and okay whatever that dust was had certainly knocked me out, that had me wondering how I was even here and who had found me.

"That white dust was a concentrated form with a hell of a kick of barbiturates in it, Steph. It nearly killed you"

Oh, I hadn't realized that the stuff was so strong, but if that white powder was going to be going out on the streets, what would it do to anyone who took it?

"We have to stop it being moved out onto the streets"

I said almost pleading that it needed to be done quickly.

"It was destroyed Steph. What with the fire and explosions there's nothing left"

"Explosions?"

The only thing that I could think of that would cause explosions were the weapons being stored there, the ones that had been messed with that were going to be swapped out with a shipment due for Ramos.

"The weapons"

I said out loud seeing Les and Bobby looking at each other. Maybe they didn't know what was in that building to destroy everything.

"There were weapons inside the museum along with the drugs. the weapons had been messed with and were going to be swapped out with a shipment due for Ramos"

"No wonder it looked like the fourth of July"

"You were there?"

"Went in to get you out Beautiful"

How did they know where I was? Had they seen one of the people at that meeting and followed them?

"Ranger looked again at those photos you got from Watson. The museum seemed to be the best option to look at first"

I nodded my head remembering those photos thinking that Charlie had really messed up. He should have written on them if he'd used the places to hide clues or if the buildings would lead to more people. Now though I just wanted to get up, maybe shower and rest. Oh yeah and tell Ranger who I saw inside the museum at that meeting and find out what the hell was going on.

Bobby eventually relented to my pleading but only with conditions. I had to wear this damn cuff on my arm and sticky patches on my chest so that he could monitor my vitals. And no showering. Even after giving him what I hoped was an evil look he wouldn't withdraw that condition. Something about being stood up for too long and the hot water. I went with what he suggested just so that I could go upstairs, hoping that maybe Ranger would be there.

Wearing a thick robe over what I identified as shorts and a strappy top, Les carried me to the elevator and up to the seventh floor, with Bobby following behind with the medical paraphernalia that he was insisting that I wore. I insisted on laying down on the couch because I had a feeling something was going on so didn't want to miss out. At least the monitoring equipment was unobtrusive and as explained by Bobby it used Wi-Fi to transmit the results directly to him.

I had water in front of me and some sandwiches, courtesy of Ella, though my stomach didn't really feel like eating. I had a couple of cushions under my head and my feet tucked up by my side so felt comfortable and relaxed. Apart from when the damn cuff kept automatically blowing up and squeezing my arm. I watched as Bobby and Les sat down in chairs at the table and as Tank, Ram and Hector came into the room and joined them. They were incredibly quiet as they sat there and had on some very serious faces making me almost too scared to ask them what had happened. I was so intent on watching them, surprised that none of them had come over to see me, well disappointed really when Ranger was suddenly in my line of sight.

"Are you going to be okay here?"

"Yes, but I do have information from last night"

I watched as his eyebrow was raised as though he didn't need me to tell him. Huh, how did he know what I knew?

"Just rest Babe"

I'd do that, well look as though I was, but I had no intention of falling asleep. I wanted to know what they were going to be talking about. Ranger pressed a kiss on my forehead before moving over to the table. I was sure that he was favoring one leg as he walked, maybe that was from the accident. Once he was sat down it seemed like all of the men became very serious. I listened as they went through reports from the accident and as Hector reported details of the security system at the safe house. His next words surprised me though.

"Jayce and Tali have been told to report back to Boston. With the explosion taking out the drugs and weapons I told them their job was finished"

As I tried to remember what had happened at the safe house, I was sure that both of the women were fighting the men who'd come into the house, so why send them back to Boston? Or was it just as Hector had said, their job here was finished?

As I looked across at the table Ranger turned and looked at me. He stood up and walked over to me and then with his arms underneath my thighs and shoulders picked me up. Carrying me over to the table he sat down with me cradled in his arms.

"Steph deserves to know the details"

I was glad when the others nodded their heads and smiled at me, okay it also meant that they wanted me to be involved as well.

"Babe, we came across you being carried out of the building by the man named Jonathan Denby. Listen to what he had to say"

I was actually surprised that it was Denby who had saved me. The story he was telling Ranger seemed plausible but somehow it just seemed too true to be believed. There was something deeper going on, I was sure of it. Once the recording had finished Ranger passed out a piece of paper to each of the men which they were busy looking at when Ranger held one in front of me.

"Denby gave me the list of people that he knows are involved"

I read through the list seeing names that we were already aware of and new ones that I'd discovered when I'd gatecrashed that meeting. There were a few more that had a star next to them, making me wonder who they were. It seemed Ranger must have been reading my mind because he was soon talking again.

"The names with the stars next to them are men they've hired for any dirty work. Denby told Cal that the people they used further down the chain were constantly being replaced"

I remembered Charlie writing about that happening, the man he'd been following had disappeared when he went to pick up a delivery. I suppose that was how they kept things so quiet and ensured everyone involved knew what might happen to them if they made a mistake. I was brought back to the present when some photos appeared on the table, photos of the people at that meeting leaving the museum from various exits.

"Juadyn organized for these to be taken and to be around just in case"

I didn't need to look at the photos, but I was curious who Juadyn was, was he a Rangeman? Didn't sound like it to me.

"He did good pulling up with his van when he did, getting you and Beautiful out of there"

"Were any of our vehicles caught on camera?"

Ranger asked as he looked at Hector.

"No. Any images that suggested that someone was breaking in have been wiped"

I watched the faces of the men as they passed the photos around seeing when Les came across one that had him annoyed.

"Shit Ranger. How the hell did we miss this?"

"Who is it?"

I watched as Les passed the photo to Tank and as Tank's face hardened. He was looking at a photo of Garner. I knew we'd found a vague connection between him and Manning so maybe I needed to chase up with that. The fact that there had been three ex soldiers involved, that we knew of, who obviously knew each other didn't sit well with me. Were they in it for the money or? Closing my eyes, I was thinking back to what had been said at that meeting. What was it that had been said, in a minimum of three weeks they would have effectively shut them down. That their bosses would be very pleased with that outcome, a town free of drugs, weapons and gambling on the streets.

I suppose they were talking about the mob bosses and how they seemed to have control of what was happening in the city. It sounded to me as though that had been the focus of this whole affair. I mean why would a judge, a detective and the man who was called Walter be so keen to be involved in this? Especially the judge because he'd lost his son to drugs. Ridding the city of Trenton of the mob bosses along with their drugs and weapons could certainly be a motive, so why did I feel that there was more to it than that?

"Babe, are you okay?"

"Just thinking"

I replied without opening my eyes. I tuned back into the conversation as I heard Ranger begin talking again.

"All of the boxes from Rangeman that were illegally placed on those properties have been removed"

Wow, that happened quickly though the question from Tank had me frowning, wouldn't Tank have known about that happening?

"Who?"

"I asked Castillo"

Damn, another name that I didn't know. Thinking it through though Ranger must have made a last minute decision to do that, making me wonder why now? I toyed with that in my head as I tried to collect together what we'd found out. Whose idea would it have been to involve Rangeman like that? It was a risky thing to do, attracting attention that Ranger was sure to eventually find out about. Or would he have? If I hadn't got involved with what Charlie was doing and inadvertently involved Ranger would he have found those false security systems?

So once again I was asking the question why. Would it make it look as though Rangeman was involved? Of course it would, and it already had people noticing, so I was back to my original question, why. Why would a boss who no one actually knew, want to have Rangeman seen to be involved? In the meeting they seemed keen to know that Rangeman security was still visible, maybe to give the illusion to others that it was the right thing to do? Nah, why would those men care what Ranger thought, they were too invested in what they were doing. What if there was another agenda that included these anonymous bosses and they had no intention of stopping supplies, what if they wanted to somehow take over? The path was being cleared and Ranger could be seen as being a part of it. Ranger's reputation would be totally ruined if he tried to stop the next phase.

"They're trying to blackmail Rangeman, there's going to be a next phase. Who is Jensen?"

I blurted out not even thinking that I was interrupting anything. This man Jenson, would he be important enough to use those soldiers, pay them as you would mercenaries or even trick them into thinking it was a legitimate operation.

"Is she okay Brown?"

"Her pressure and heart rate are up"

"Nah, that's how her brain works. She's figuring something out"

"Babe?"

I opened my eyes to see Tank, Hector, Ram and Les all looking at me. Les was the only one who had a smile on his face. Looking further up and I was looking into the dark brown eyes of Ranger. His expression wasn't one that I'd seen before, somewhere between curious and puzzled. He leant forward and kissed the end of my nose before turning to the others.

"Find out who Jensen is. He could be FBI, Homeland, CIA or even Defense. He'll be high up or at least high enough to be able to get Denby released from prison. Someone who could create a false identity and rewrite records"

"What else are we going to do Ranger?"

Came from Les who I was sure was pretty annoyed at what they'd found out tonight.

"They don't have anything, no drugs or weapons, maybe we watch and wait to see what they do next"

"Denby?"

Yeah that was a good question. I wasn't too sure about him, but I was sure that Ranger would come up with something.

I was definitely feeling tired as the men continued talking and couldn't focus on what they were saying. My eyes felt tired, and I found that all I wanted to do was to close them. Too much had happened, and I just wanted it all to go away, just for a short time because that incessant niggle was still there. How was I going to prove my innocence now?

Waking up can be a strange thing. Sometimes one minute you're asleep and the next minute you're awake other times there's an in between moment. When you think you're awake, but sleep is stronger with an interval of time when there's confusion.

It was confusion that was fogging my brain, between being asleep and awake, that greeted me. I couldn't place where I was or what time it was or who I was with. No, I take that one back. I could feel a warm body behind me, holding me as though I might take off. I turned over so that I was laid on my other side and rested my head on Ranger's shoulder looking beyond him to where we were. This wasn't his apartment at Rangeman it was his house.

"How am I here?"

I asked because I had no memory of leaving Rangeman and travelling in a car.

"You were fast asleep and never woke up. You were tired Babe so I thought you would appreciate being here where it's quiet"

I did appreciate it, being here with Ranger away from the world, away from the problems that seemed to be all around me. The thing was that I knew that they wouldn't go away but maybe being here would help to clear my head.

"I like it here, it's calm and peaceful"

"Good. You must be hungry. I'll go sort out some breakfast. You stay here"

I didn't complain as he moved away from me because I was feeling hungry and to be honest, I couldn't even remember the last time that I'd eaten anything. Whilst Ranger was gone, I got up from the bed and went through to the bathroom. I felt a bit wobbly on my feet and ended up walking slowly and carefully until I felt my head clearing. Of course, I ended up looking in the mirror at my reflection as I washed my hands in the sink.

I had a bruise on my right cheek that went up into my hairline and touching the side of my head revealed a bit of a bump. Those were probably as a result of the fight at the safe house because I seemed to remember being hit really hard, enough that I ended up being knocked out. Further investigating showed bruises on my elbow, shoulder and hip probably from when I'd fallen out of the ventilation shaft onto the floor. I was actually surprised that my wrist didn't hurt. I had a bandage around my ankle from when my foot had broken through the top of that crate. That had me remembering the figurine that I'd found inside. Did that mean that a lot of the relics and antiquities that were being stored at the museum had been destroyed? I hoped not, they were irreplaceable.

I pulled my hair back into an untidy ponytail using one of Ranger leather ties that I found on a shelf and made my way back into the bedroom. Ranger was waiting for me, holding a tray in his hands, so I quickly scrambled back into bed, pulling over pillows to lean against.

Leaning my head back against the pillows I felt stuffed. I couldn't believe that I'd eaten everything on the tray that Ranger had provided. I felt too embarrassed to look at his face as he sat there with an empty cereal bowl.

"Could we go outside and walk?"

I asked thinking that the exercise from that would at least negate some of the food that I'd eaten. I watched as Ranger nodded his head and took the tray from my knee. He disappeared only to return a few minutes later.

Once dressed and with a thick coat on and sturdy boots we left the house through the side door. The weather was cool and windy as we made our way across the meadow, so I was grateful for Ranger's arm around my shoulder. We were both quiet as we walked but as we walked further, I found it easier to push the thoughts that had taken root in my head to the back of my mind. As we moved from the meadow into a wooded area, we were protected from the wind allowing me to tuck the wayward curls that had blown around my face behind my ear. The sounds coming from the branches, laden with leaves had me looking up at the tree tops only seeing grey clouds above us. Walking was easier than I thought it would be, the ground smooth as though it were a well trodden path.

"Do you run this way?"

I asked, hoping I was right and that no one used this area.

"Usually. I own a large section of the land around here with boundary fences, so the public don't have access"

I didn't doubt that knowing how private Ranger could be and how security was important to him. Hell, the way that the house was designed shouted that out. As the path started to wind down the side of a hill Ranger removed his arm from my shoulders and took hold of my hand instead. It became more of a single track with rocks and tree roots littering our way making it more difficult to navigate and a few times as I tripped or stumbled, him holding my hand saved me from falling. How he managed to run down here amazed me when I had trouble just trying to walk. The thought that went through my head was that I hoped we didn't have to come back this way.

A sound had me being more aware of what was around us, it was very quiet to start with but as we continued our walk it grew louder and more noticeable. It was a sound that reminded me of tiny bells ringing or small shards of glass falling onto a hard surface, so it didn't surprise me to catch a glimpse of reflections from the water below us. Beams of soft light speared down from above, through the gaps in the trees, creating sparkles that looked like a thousand diamonds. Everything else, the sound of the wind through the trees even my hand in Ranger's paled in comparison as I followed the path of the water. It was fragile like the subtle sweep of a painter's brush seeping and snaking past all obstacles. Twigs twirled on its murmuring surface as it flowed over the small pebbles. I stopped as it seemed to disappear and as the noise increased to more of a small rumbling sound and that was when I recognized where we were.

This time as I sat on the smooth rock between Ranger's legs, I was far more in control of my emotions than I had been before. The warmth from Ranger as I leaned back onto him seeped through me, engulfing me in the feeling of contentment. I was totally lost in the magic of the small pool in front of me, the shadows and light mesmerizing me.

At first I wasn't really conscious of the ripples emerging on the surface that was until I felt drops of water falling onto my head.

"We need to move Babe, or we're going to get soaking wet"

The spell broken, but I was quick to get up to my feet as I realized just how quickly the rain was starting to fall. By the time we reached the meadow I was sure my coat was definitely drenched but for some reason I stopped and lifted my face up to the sky. I lifted my arms out at my side and turned around on the spot, the droplets of rain hitting my face.

It felt invigorating, and freeing making me smile, I felt at one with the rain. I was stopped from movement as hands caressed my cheeks as though wiping the water from my skin and then warm lips were covering mine, demanding and as sweet as the rainwater had tasted. My arms went around Ranger's neck as I returned the passion, becoming lost in the feel of him. As his face moved back from me his hands stayed holding my face, his eyes intent as they looked into mine.

"You are so beautiful, my angel of light. I love you Babe, so much"

"I love you just as much, Carlos"

Was my whispered response as I tenderly kissed him on his lips. My legs left the floor as I was swept up into his arms and carried back into the house.

I was laid on my stomach watching the flames from the fire. I wasn't too sure what was wrong with me because everything seemed so magical today. The walk through the meadow, sat watching the water and then the feel of the rain on my face and finally making love in front of the glow of the fire. Maybe it was fates way of allowing me this happiness before the storm that was sure to come, the very prospect of being sent to prison becoming very real. As I felt a hand slide over my shoulder I looked over to Carlos, to see him looking intently at me.

"What's wrong Babe?"

I'd tried so hard not to allow that last thought show on my face. How could I say how I felt out loud when all he had done was to make our time together so special? I couldn't, so tried to smile as my gaze returned to the fire.

"Babe"

A hand had my head turning so I had no choice but to look at him.

"I won't let anyone take you away from me. I'd leave everything here to keep you safe, so no more worrying about what may or may not happen. We'll beat this, together, I promise"

The sincerity in his voice was my undoing as tears slowly started to run down my cheeks. I'd never felt so cherished or loved so much in my life and instantly moved to pull him against me.

We spent the rest of the evening in front of the fire. I discovered that there was a sound system, one that reacted to a voice command and had speakers concealed in the walls. We fed each other cheese and fruit and drank wine as the daylight receded to allow the darkness to enshroud us. That was when I realized that the windows automatically blacked out, huh, who knew that was possible, certainly not me.