Chapter 35

SPOV

I couldn't believe what had happened while I'd been away from Trenton. I was so shocked when Ranger said that when they followed the trackers in my clothes that they'd found Jayce murdered. Why would Tali do that, I mean I could get that she was trying to frame Jayce but why kill her? And why leave my clothes next to the body. Was she trying to frame me again? Thank god Ranger had found her first before the police had arrived.

That was nothing compared to what had happened at that house. How could anyone do that, have a woman who was totally innocent killed like that. I'd cried when Ranger had told me, feeling that I was responsible for her death, that she'd died because of me. Once I'd cried myself out, I was ready to join the men and plan out what we were going to do about Tali.

"I want her to go to prison for what she's done"

I knew that had probably never even figured into what Ranger and the guys wanted to happen.

"Why Beautiful, you know we can deal with her"

"I know, but I don't want any more deaths. You carry too much as it is and I know that you value life. That's the point, she doesn't"

I didn't add that death would be too good for her, I wanted her to suffer for a very long time and prison would be an ideal place for that to happen.

"Leneghan would suspect something if she just disappeared, so I think that maybe Beautiful has a point"

I smiled at Les for saying that because he was right, I didn't want Lucas coming after us again to avenge the death of his sister.

"How do we do this then?"

I had no idea how to answer Tank, I mean I knew the guys were good at what they did, finding people and keeping the streets safe. Caring for people in their own way and being loyal to those close to them. Finding clues, but looking for evidence when there were no clues or witnesses would probably be alien to them. Tali wasn't stupid, she'd have covered her tracks and made sure that there would be nothing that could point to her. Okay she'd been with me in that van, but she hadn't kidnapped me, I'd got in of my own free will.

I sat down with a pen and paper and wrote down the crimes that we suspected her of. Shooting Charlie. I was sure now that it was Tali in the photo with Joe but doubted that Joe would ever help us. Hell, he probably hated my guts for what had happened in that courtroom. The only hope that I had was that Charlie might remember, he was improving, so maybe that was a possibility, okay maybe a long shot.

Killing Manning. I remembered that Manning had been seen with a woman called Emma so maybe she knew something, it was worth trying to find her. I passed a piece of paper to Hector with her name on it.

"She was in his squadron and I'm sure there was a photo that Charlie took with them together"

"Si, Emma Becket. You think that she might know something?"

"It's worth following up on"

Maybe we'd get lucky, and Manning had kept something, like evidence for insurance if the people he was working with turned on him. I returned to my seat and wrote down Quaker Bridge Mall. Tank was looking as I wrote it down, so I was expecting him to say something.

"There has to be something that was missed at the mall. I mean now we know that it might have been Tali we know that she could have edited the tapes that were looked at"

"It was Tali that secured those tapes. I'll hit the mall and hope that they still have that day on their systems"

I smiled at Ram for volunteering to do that and wrote down Manning's apartment.

"Was it Tali who said that she'd searched Manning's apartment?"

"I think so. I'll cover that one Babe"

I smiled at Ranger, knowing how good he was at breaking and entering. The fact that it was him who had sussed out that there was another exit from Charlie's house showed how good his instincts were at finding secret places. The museum was next, but I wasn't too sure what we could find there, unless.

"Ranger you know you had some photos of those men leaving the building, who took them?"

"Juadyn. I know what you're thinking but if I remember he gave me the card from his camera. I'll call him"

It was Les who spoke out next and just by listening to how he spoke I could tell that he was annoyed and maybe at himself.

"She was with me for the first part of the evening checking on that building where the prostitutes were. Hell Beautiful, I actually thought that her concern for you was real, I'm sorry"

I could never blame Les for believing Tali after all she was the master at misleading people.

"Les, no one even thought that she was ever involved"

"You did"

I looked at Hector as he said that, he was right I never had liked her but it was because I was jealous of her. I needed to move away from that and focused back onto what we were talking about. I had no idea what had happened at Rangeman seeing as I was locked up in that room at the museum. I looked at Hector and for the first time I think he knew exactly what I was thinking.

"Maybe we could look at tapes after you came back. The cameras at Rangeman would tell us if she left the building"

Jayce was my next heading, but I honestly had no idea where to start with that.

"Babe?"

"I'm not sure how to even start to tie Tali to Jayce's murder"

Ranger pulled me over toward him so that I ended up sat across his knee and taking the pen and paper from my hands placed them on the chair next to him.

"We have to decide our game play when we get back to Trenton"

I knew we had to do that but to be honest I wasn't feeling too enthusiastic about it. Ranger would be under a lot of pressure from Tali, and I wasn't too sure how that would work out.

"I've had to work undercover with the enemy before, I'll be fine, it's you that I'm worried about"

I knew that but at this moment I wasn't too sure what to do.

"As far as Tali is concerned you died in that explosion at that house, and I went offline to deal with it. She knows that Santos, Tank and Bobby were looking for me because they'd be worried at what I might do. We have to return to Rangeman Babe"

"I can give you a day, say that we found you in a drunken state and cleaned you up. That you'll be back at Rangeman the following day when you'd pulled yourself together.

I liked that idea thinking that maybe Ranger and I could at least have a day to ourselves on our own at the bat cave. As Ranger turned and looked at me, I could see that he liked the idea as well, the smile and the look in his eyes gave him away.

"Good thinking Santos. We'll do that. Babe would you look through the mall videos if we can get them?"

"You want me to stay there, don't you?"

"Please"

I closed my eyes as I considered what he was saying. He knew that I hated the idea of being in a safe house, but it was because I hated the idea of him not being there with me. He had said please though, a rotten trick to pull on me because I never could refuse him when he used that word.

"Okay. But I'm not staying there for long, so we'd better get this shit sorted"

Bobby was the one to find some food, which was okay for something on a plane. The meal he provided for me was macaroni cheese and it filled the empty spot in my stomach. Of course, Bobby had then insisted on checking out my wound, well wounds, it seemed that the bullet had gone straight through my shoulder. He declared that it was doing well, no infection and nice, neat stitches so re-covered it before leaving me laid down on what was really a couch. I had no idea a jet could be so comfortable and as I laid there I watched as the others sat in comfy leather chairs, drinking coffee while they continued with their plans.

I woke with a jolt at the feel of the plane dropping, memories of that last flight coming to my mind. My eyes shot open not sure what to expect and was greeted with the image of Ranger opposite me. As I moved to sit up a view of land came through the window making me wonder where we were.

"Ten minutes to landing Babe"

He squatted down in front of me and removed a blanket that must have been covering me, kissing me softly as he fastened my seatbelt. He was then next to me as we started our descent my hand holding tightly onto his. It was a small runway, and I was actually worried that we were going too fast to be able to land but as soon as the wheels seemed to touch the ground, I felt myself being pulled back into the seat as the brakes came on. I was surprised when the plane continued to move until we came to a stop inside a large hanger and the sound of the engines disappeared. There looked to be a lot of bags removed from the hold and carried to two black SUVs and one dark grey truck.

As Ranger helped me into the truck, I heard Les shouting over to us.

"Twenty four hours Ranger"

I had no idea what time it was and was glad of the blanket still wrapped around my shoulders, because hell, it felt cold. Traffic was light as Ranger drove and of course he was quiet, in his zone. Watching him I realized that part of his zone was being constantly aware of the traffic and road around us. Twenty minutes later we turned down a track where a gate opened in front of us like magic before driving around a corner and dropping down through an entrance into the garage underneath the house.

As the doors rolled down lights came on and we were soon entering the elevator to go up into the main living area. As the doors slid open, I sighed in relief because I felt so comfortable here. It was warm and familiar.

While Ranger sorted out the fire I went through to the bedroom and used the bathroom before changing into clean joggers and one of Ranger's T-shirts. Returning to the lounge I couldn't see Ranger, he wasn't in the kitchen area so I was a bit puzzled where he'd gone. Turning he was suddenly behind me and took my hand to lead me back down the hallway where the bedrooms were.

Instead of leading me into the bedroom though he opened another door. Oh wow, was all that I could think. I'd just assumed that this was another bedroom but that was far from it. I heard and watched as water bubbled and fell over rocks into a round jacuzzi. The water was swirling and bubbling with a layer of steam hovering above the surface.

I felt my T-shirt being lifted above and over my head and then watched as Ranger removed the two bandages and replaced them with waterproof ones. As soon as he'd finished my hands were moving to reciprocate the move with his T-shirt. I couldn't believe how quickly I'd gone from warm to smoking hot, my entire body molten and so turned on. Trousers disappeared quickly before I was swept off my feet and Ranger stepped over and down into the hot water. My skin tingled as it heated me even further until I was up to my chest sat straddled on Ranger's legs. Sweeping his hair back from his face to the base of his neck I admired the view in front of me. He looked dark, slightly dangerous and definitely turned on if his eyes were anything to go by.

The scratch of a days facial hair moved down from my cheek to my neck sending shivers over my skin. I arched my back, placing my hands on his knees as my breasts felt the attention of his hands and mouth before his hands moved south. My god, I could never tire of how magically he moved, how well he seemed to know just what to do to me before I was screaming out his name.

I could feel his erection pushing against me so raised my hips to slowly come down onto him.

Our love making was slow and sensual, intense and passionate. Every part of me was so attuned to him, so complete, with him taking me to heights that I had never ever experienced before.

"Te amo Carlos"

I whispered as I rested against him, feeling totally relaxed and loved.

"Mi amor, mi vida para siempre"

The language and cadence of his voice swept through me and subconsciously I moved against him, aware of him still being inside me.

"We need to move Babe, the water is cooling down"

To be honest I wasn't aware of that and only when I moved back slightly did I even notice that the water was calm around us. Okay, a look at my fingertips and I could see that the skin was beginning to look a bit shriveled. In one move we were out of the tub with my feet on the floor and a large warm fluffy towel around me.

"Get dressed while I sort out some food"

Yep, it was definitely time to refuel. Dressed again I found Carlos, yeah, we were on our own so here and now he was Carlos. As he passed me to head into the bedroom I went over to the fire and added some logs then sat on the floor leant against the couch. I was so lost with watching the flames as they licked around the grate, I wasn't aware of Carlos until he sat down next to me. I leant into him, resting my head on his shoulder, the silence between us comfortable, that is until he moved.

A small box came into my line of sight which had me looking at Carlos. He looked so serious as he stared back at me.

"I once said that I wasn't into rings, but I was wrong. Wear my ring Babe, a ring that I give to you to show my love and commitment to you"

The lid of the box opened revealing a beautiful single stoned ring. It was as though the large oval diamond, that glinted with a blue hue to it, seemed almost to be a part of the platinum band.

"It's beautiful"

As he slid the ring onto my finger it fit perfectly and had me lifting my hand to look at it. Strange really because I felt so happy to have that ring on my finger. Carlos had never mentioned marriage but to be honest I didn't need that word from him and not because I was frightened of it. The sentiment of this ring felt deeper than saying that it was an engagement ring.

"Whenever you want to add the companion ring to it, then just say"

I had tears in my eyes as he said that, knowing what he meant but also knowing that the relationship that we had went deeper than a piece of paper ever could. I tilted my head up and ran my lips over his, my fingers laced through his silky hair. I'd just deepened the kiss felling such an intensity of feeling swirl through me when a loud beeping sound echoed through the room.

"Dinner is ready"

Was what I heard as Carlos moved away from me and walked over to the kitchen.

The morning came too soon for me, well morning as in when the sun was up and Carlos was moving away from me. I lay on my side in the bed as he disappeared into the bathroom, admiring the ripple of his muscles through his back and thighs. I knew that he was going to be leaving to go back to Rangeman, leaving me here.

"Are you sure that you'll be alright here on your own?"

I looked up to see that Carlos had returned, fully dressed in his Rangeman uniform.

"Yes. You showed me all of the security systems. Besides no one knows that this place exists. I'll look at those videos later"

I saw the slight smile on his face, yeah, he knew that I would probably sleep a bit longer. We'd spent the night constantly seeking each other out our bodies and minds so attuned to each other. In fact, as I looked at Carlos, he did look tired.

"You look tired, are you okay to go in?"

I didn't get an answer just the raise of an eyebrow. I suppose that he looked the part, tired eyes and having not shaved a sort of scruffy look. Maybe the wrong word. He looked sexy as hell.

"I'll call on the satellite phone when I can and update you with where we've got to"

I only hoped that trying to catch Tali wasn't going to take too long, or I would definitely start to go crazy and the massager in the shower would probably get broken. Hell, I could just pull him back into bed and have my wicked way with him. After a long slow kiss that had my hormones waking up and me moaning out loud, he pulled away from me, leaving me panting in the bed.

I tried to go back to sleep but I was on edge and ended up getting up. Showered and dressed in jeans and a sweater I found some cereal for breakfast before dragging myself over to the couch to start looking at that mall video. I did think of going downstairs to the office but found the couch more comfortable for what I was going to be doing.

Ram had sent a password to the email account that I'd set up an age ago allowing me access to a cloud storage, Tresorit, that would allow me to watch those videos. I just hoped that I didn't have to spend all day combing through all of them.

I was pleased that each video was labelled so I started with the one covering the main entrance, watching it until I saw Manning walk through. As he disappeared from view, I moved onto a different camera, synching the time so hopefully I would be able to follow his progress as he walked into the main concourse. I found a routine the longer that I watched and had followed Manning into the food hall. Interestingly he'd bought a drink and sat down as though waiting.

That's when I saw a woman, sat at the table next to his but with them sat back to back it was only a feeling that she was important. If they spoke, I didn't see it, but several times the woman looked his way. I froze the screen and zoomed in on her, her face in perfect vision, the face of Emma. As I studied her face she looked, I don't know, maybe a bit worried from the small frown across her forehead. I resumed playing the video and watched as Emma left the table and walked away from Manning. Every so often he looked to where she had gone. My gut feeling was telling me that these two were friends, if not something stronger.

I was back to following Manning but instead of walking out of the food court he walked between two of the fast-food counters and disappeared from sight. I was so busy trying to see if there was another video for the hallways behind the shops when another figure following caught my eye. Rewinding, and then hitting the play button I was pretty sure that it was Tali. Yeah, tall, shapely, long straight blonde hair, that told me that I was right.

Finding another video to watch that might place Manning in the hallway didn't happen so I pulled up a plan of the mall, working out where Manning might re appear. There were two cameras beyond the food mall, the first one showing the garbage skips overflowing with rubbish from inside, but other than some poor kid throwing a black garbage bag into one of them there was nothing there.

With the second one I hit the payload. Manning and Tali were stood just outside the door facing each other. Tali had her arms crossed over her chest and looked to me to be annoyed while Manning, well he looked more casual as he stepped back and lifted his foot to the wall behind him. I watched as Tali disappeared behind a garbage skip and Manning pushed himself from the wall and followed her and then nothing. I waited and watched but neither one of them appeared. Maybe I couldn't prove that Tali had murdered Manning, but she was the last person to see him, probably. Plus, she had lied to us and tampered with the camera footage.

A look at the time had me surprised that I'd been sat here for so long. It was already mid afternoon, and I was beginning to feel hungry. In the kitchen I found a tin of tomato soup and emptied it into a mug which went into the microwave. While that was heating up I sliced some bread to have with it looking up when it seemed the microwave was blipping. Opening the door the blipping continued and that was when I realized that what I was hearing was an alert from the security system.

Maybe Carlos had tripped it by mistake or Les had decided to visit? I wasn't sounding that convincing as I searched for answers. The idea that someone had found the house seemed impossible, but that idea took hold of me fast and hard. Carlos had told me that the office downstairs was the safest room to be in because it had a locking system that could only be controlled from inside the room. As I moved toward the elevator, I stopped with the fob in my hand ready to open the doors. A low whining noise was telling me that the elevator was already being used and the indicator panel was saying that it was heading up.

RPOV

I hated leaving Steph alone even though I felt confident that she would be safe at the house. As I came closer to Trenton, I had to force myself to close down my emotions, emotions that until now had had me smiling. Twenty four hours had passed quickly and I was grateful to Santos for suggesting that Steph and I could have some time to ourselves. We needed it and wanted it and any concerns that I'd had quickly dissolved as I realized just how important she was in my life.

I hadn't planned on giving her that ring. Was it an engagement ring, maybe, to me it was a ring of love and commitment between us but I think I was ready for the next step. I hadn't wanted to scare Steph, I knew that the whole institution of marriage had been something that had panicked her in the past, or was that because it was the person that had worried her so much?

I shook my head to rid any thoughts of Steph because thinking of her wouldn't help me with looking and sounding broken. Pulling into the garage I saw Tank stood by the stairwell door, as if to greet me. I walked quickly to the door, completely ignoring Tank, taking the stairs up to five two at a time. The atmosphere when I stepped out into the hallway hit me like a freight train. It wasn't just the silence but the faces as they passed me, each one them somber and as though they were carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. Guilt.

I ignored them, as though my pain was worse than theirs and walking into my office slammed the door shut behind me. Taking a deep breath, I sat down in the chair behind my desk. I'd expected a bit of breathing space as the door opened and in walked Tali. Her walk was slow and ended beside me, her arms resting on the back of the chair. At least she hadn't dared to actually touch me.

"I'm so sorry Carlos"

Her soft voice grated through me and as I turned to look at her, she even had the nerve to have tears in her eyes.

"I know it hurts now, but give it time"

I slammed my fist on the table making her jump away from me, maybe I'd been a bit dramatic but shit, she was pushing her luck.

"No amount of time will make a difference"

I added as I stalked from the room. I took my time to pass an eye over the monitoring room before using the stairs and heading up to seven. I found the bottle of tequila that Tank had left there for me, doctored of course with absolutely no alcohol in it. As I unscrewed the top and took a swig it smelt and tasted like the real thing but didn't have the burning sensation as it slid down my throat. Sitting down on the couch I was surprised at how quickly Tali had followed me, and I watched as she walked in through the door carrying a tray.

"I brought you some food"

I ignored her and took another swig from the bottle before leaning my head back and closing my eyes. That she sat next to me had my skin crawling, making me think that maybe I wouldn't be able to play this out as we'd discussed.

"What the hell are doing here Tali?"

I asked slurring my words for effect.

"To help you, to show you the way out from this"

"There is no way out. I let her down, I lost her because I couldn't keep her safe"

"No, you didn't. You did what you could. Wasn't it her who abandoned you, who walked out of here without telling a soul?"

That Tali knew that only confirmed that she was part of it but what she'd said still wasn't enough to prove anything. I really hoped the others found something and quickly.

I felt her hand against my cheek and then as she stroked my forehead as though trying to soothe me. Controlling my breathing down to a slow steady rate I allowed the bottle to slip from my hand onto the floor. Tali didn't move, just remained next to me, her hand still caressing my head. After what seemed like an eternity but was probably several minutes, I felt her move against me and kiss my lips. It took every part of my control not to react before she eventually got up. I knew that she was still in the apartment, but I also knew that Hector had placed cameras and mics everywhere. The agreement had been that if she started anything personal against me then Santos would come to the rescue, so I was waiting patiently, almost cursing as time passed by.

The opening of the door confused me, was it Tali leaving or Santos arriving shouting loudly as he came over to me.

"Shit Ranger, what the hell?"

I almost opened my eyes but then remembered that Tali was somewhere in the apartment so allowed Santos to drag me up and onto my feet and start to try and get me to walk around the room.

"Ranger, this isn't helping. Steph would hate to see you acting like this"

Mumbling came from me as we continued to walk until I felt myself being pushed down onto the couch.

"She's gone, she slunk out when we had our backs to the door"

I sat up straight and looked at Santos wondering what the hell she had been up to.

"Well?"

"She, err, was in the bedroom, undressed and laying in the bed"

I raised an eyebrow at that, at the audacity of what she had done. What the hell had she been planning?

"Maybe she was looking to get you into bed and then pretend that you and her did the nasty"

Thinking that through I suppose if it had happened like that, had I been totally drunk, then maybe she would use it to develop a pattern. Seduction can be a great way to alleviate emotion, hell I knew all about that having sought out women in my past after a particularly hard mission. Yeah, that was how I probably got into the habit of one night stands. That was until I met a curly haired brunette with incredible blue eyes and a personality that totally captivated me.

"Has anyone reported finding something?"

"Hector confirmed that the woman with Morelli was Tali, apparently it was the shape of her ears that gave her away. He used that again. It looked as though it was Jayce leaving the garage, but it was Tali"

At least we were finding answers, but it wouldn't be enough proof to have her arrested. Any good lawyer would say that it was all circumstantial. We needed something more. I needed to get into Manning's apartment tonight though I wasn't confident that I'd find something. Tali was very good at covering all angles.

I'd had a conversation with Juadyn and as I expected he'd given me everything that he had on the card so there were no more photos from him. I hadn't left the apartment and fortunately Tali hadn't returned. I was debating going down to my office when the buzz on my phone had me looking at the screen. My blood ran cold when I recognized it as the intruder alert for my house. How the hell had anyone found the place and then broken through my security? I ran down the stairs thankfully avoiding anyone, maybe they'd be glad to see me out of the building the way that I was acting. I took the grey truck and was racing up the ramp and onto the street, swearing when I knew that I would have to take a circuitous route and avoid being tailed. The last thing that I needed at the moment was anyone following me.

As I drove, I think I'd convinced myself that Steph had maybe triggered the alarms by accident and that she'd be mortified yet happy to see me. Afterall no one knew of the existence of the house and the alarm system was state of the art. As I neared the house I checked for any cars parked up, my stress level reducing as I saw nothing out of place. The gate opened but instead of driving into the garage I parked at the side of the house with the intention of using the entrance there.

All seemed quiet as I entered, though what had me worried was the flashing light on the monitoring system of the security board. Pulling my gun from my back I knew my priority was finding Steph. A quick check of the lounge showed it to be empty and as I walked into the hallway I stopped in my tracks.

"Babe?"

Sat on the floor holding a gun was Steph, her gaze fixed on the elevator doors. I crouched down by her side and carefully wrapped my hand around the gun. I could feel her shaking but it was only when I turned her face to me that I saw recognition pass across her face, and she was suddenly throwing herself at me. I must have expected it because I managed to keep my balance and felt as she clung to me.

"Babe, what happened?"

"The elevator, it started to come up"

I looked toward the elevator wondering what she meant because there was no movement coming from it now.

"It's not moving Babe"

I felt as she started to laugh, not sure if she was hysterical or not and saw her blue eyes looking into mine.

"I think I broke it, well I made it stop, I think"

I took the fob from her hand as she held it toward me seeing the red flashing light. I wasn't sure how she had done it, but it looked like she'd put the house into lockdown which would have resulted in the elevator stopping wherever it happened to be.

"Do you think that there's someone inside?"

Of course she did, otherwise she wouldn't have been sat here facing the door with her gun pointed toward it. I watched as she nodded her head and looked back to the doors as though they might open any minute. I stood up taking her with me and walked through to the lounge hitting the control for the TV to drop down from its place in the ceiling and hit the control again to show the view from the cameras. Steph was so quiet I actually took a look at her, seeing her just staring at the TV.

"That's a neat place to hide the TV"

I almost smiled at how such a small thing could enthrall her but when her hand went to her mouth turned my attention back to the TV. I used the infrared pointer and had the view from the elevator filling the screen extremely surprised to see two people inside the elevator, sat on the floor. One of them I recognized and the other one I knew very well.