Chapter 36

SPOV

As I looked at the image on the TV screen, I recognized one of the people sat there but had no idea who the second one was. I felt my feet touch the floor but still held onto Ranger as he continued to look at the screen.

"Why are they here?"

I asked totally confused with why they were in the elevator and how the hell they'd managed to get into the house.

"I need to let them out and then we can ask them"

It seemed that Ranger didn't see them as a threat and to be honest he looked a bit worried which surprised me when I'd expected him to be annoyed.

"Wait here while I reset the system"

I wasn't going to be left on my own if that elevator door opened so ignored what he'd asked me to do and followed him through to the side room that led outside. I watched as he pulled open a box and input a code before pushing down various switches. As soon as all the lights turned green, he was taking my hand and we were stood together facing the elevator.

As the doors slid open, I stepped back, slightly behind Ranger but made sure that I could see our visitors as they walked out into the hallway.

"One hell of a reception Manoso"

Came from the elderly man who slapped Ranger on the shoulder and proceeded to walk to the kitchen and open the fridge. Emma Becket followed him but sat down on the couch.

"I wasn't expecting you Colonel"

Came from Ranger as he also opened the fridge and took out three more bottles of beer. He handed one to Emma and pressed one into my hand.

"I think maybe we should start with introductions. I seem to be at a disadvantage here"

Came from the elderly man who was now looking at me.

"My name is Colonel Bamber, I used to work with Manoso here and know him very well"

My manners kicked in as I took his hand and felt the firm grip as he shook it.

"Stephanie Plum"

"Nice to eventually meet you. This is Captain Emma Becket"

I turned to look at the woman still sat on the couch but didn't make a move toward her because the phrase the Colonel had said was still rewinding in my head. What had he meant "Nice to eventually meet me?"

I stayed stood next to Carlos as his words played through my head but something was really worrying me. Leaning into Ranger I was whispering against his ear so no one else would hear.

"How did he know about here and manage to get inside?"

I felt Ranger sigh so guessed that had been an oversight from him.

"The Colonel helped procure some of the things that I needed to make this place invisible. He insisted seeing the end result. I'd totally forgotten about him because it never occurred to me that I'd be seeing him again"

I suppose it made sense, so having had that question answered I walked with Ranger and sat down in one of the chairs, waiting for an explanation as to why this Colonel had turned up here.

"I've been watching the events unfold here in Trenton and to be honest I was ready to send a team in. But seeing that you were involved I was sure that it would be resolved"

Okay now he had me confused, but which event did he actually mean?

The Colonel walked over to the window but was looking outside as he continued to talk.

"That new drug, white demon, had to be stopped, which I've been told has happened. I was ready to close the case down when the Captain here came to see me. Seems you have a rogue employee Manoso"

"We know and we're working to bring her to justice"

I assumed that they were talking about Tali but wasn't too sure exactly why the Colonel or Emma for that matter were involving themselves.

"Manning was one of mine"

There was total silence as he announced that and I closed my eyes, so many questions going through my head but one thought just coming out loud and clear.

"Why the hell didn't you tell Ranger?"

Had Ranger known that then maybe we could have cleared this up so much sooner. I could see from Ranger's stance that he was annoyed as well and we both remained silent waiting for the answer.

"Manning had finished his contract. His employment with Rangeman was genuine when he was approached by that man Garner"

I was at least mollified by the feeling that this Colonel didn't like Garner.

"He spoke to me about what he thought was happening and I asked him to run with it, find out what he could. We knew who some of the players were but were missing a vital link and to be honest everything seemed so complicated"

Ya think, came to my mind as I stood there looking at the man, hell if Ranger had known what Manning was up to then maybe Manning would still be alive now and maybe all of this could have been resolved a lot sooner.

"Colonel, we know what happened, we've had to live through it. Why are you here?"

Oh boy, it seemed that Ranger was getting impatient now and the man might be a Colonel but that didn't seem to bother Ranger with how he spoke to him. The Colonel turned to look at us and that authoritative look fell from his face.

"I truly am sorry about that. Maybe I didn't fully appreciate the extent of what Manning was reporting to me so I'm here to try and put that right"

I watched as Ranger's anger fell away and as he came up to me. I wasn't sure what Ranger was going to say and was actually surprised at what he suggested.

"I think you need to hear our side of this and maybe then we can discuss what you know and how it might help"

That could take some time because a lot had happened since that fateful day that I'd met Charlie. It was a question of what was relevant, though as we'd discovered, sometimes the importance of something only became obvious afterwards.

I watched as Ranger changed what we were seeing on the large TV screen, seeing the chart that I'd put together. Hell, that seemed so long ago now and thinking that we hadn't updated it since that time in the basement.

"This started when Steph tried to take in an FTA, Charlie Watson. He was shot and Steph was framed and then arrested. Watson had started his own investigation and was collecting evidence, evidence that people were after and thought Steph had. It led us to the men seen here on the left, all men of importance in the community. They were manipulated by the men in the center column. Jackson who supplied the drugs, Garner the weapons and a man named Denby whose gambling business was to launder the money. On the surface it looked as though the operation was aimed at putting the mob bosses out of business. I became involved because I was looking for Steph and by following some of the threads discovered that Rangeman was also being drawn in"

"Manning mentioned that he'd been asked to provide security boxes for various properties. He was told that it was just a way of keeping attention away from what was happening"

"No, it was a way of pointing a finger at our involvement and would have caused the business a lot of damage if the authorities had made the link. We became aware that Manning was rogue, but he was murdered before we could work out fully the whole plan. The entire merchandise was destroyed, and the original men decided that what they were planning really wasn't the way to tackle the mob. Denby gave us McCann as someone who was running things. That led us to a man named Lucas Leneghan"

"I only became aware of McCann's involvement very recently, but he seems to have disappeared"

I looked down at my hands not sure what details Ranger wanted to divulge so decided to let him tell the story without me adding to it.

"McCann had two outcomes that he wanted to see. Make a lot of money through the sale of the drugs and destroy me"

I watched as the Colonel's eyebrows shot up, he was obviously totally unaware of the actual reason for all of this trouble.

"Years ago, on a Ranger mission that I was leading McCann shot the drug cartel's daughter by mistake. She was Lucas Leneghan's fiancé and pregnant. Leneghan wanted revenge for that, so McCann gave Leneghan my name as the shooter. McCann was lucky not to be court marshalled and his army career was over so courtesy of an influential father moved over to a desk job. He blamed me for that happening"

"So this whole operation was aimed at taking you down?"

Said like that it did sound bizarre and one hell of a complicated way of doing it. I was wondering what else Ranger was going to say when he held his hand up to indicate that he hadn't finished.

"It was also manipulated by Tali Leneghan. Maybe she wanted closure for her brother to start with. I knew her from basic and employed her along with her friend Jayce, to work in Boston. She's infatuated with me so when McCann revealed that it was me who had shot the fiancé, she manipulated him into believing that by getting rid of Steph that it would appease his revenge. Tali is responsible for a lot of deaths and for trying to kill Steph. The problem we're having is proving it"

The room was absolutely silent, as though the Colonel was going over what Ranger had said in his mind, maybe trying to organize what he thought he knew with what Ranger had said. I was surprised when Emma started to talk, hell, I'd almost forgotten that she was sat there.

"Jay, well we were close. He called me and told me what he was doing. I think he thought it would be easy but as he was asked to do more he became very uncomfortable with it. I'd come up to Trenton and meet with him when I could but we both knew that I'd have to be very careful. I never did like Garner when I was in his unit and certainly didn't trust him"

I almost stopped Emma to ask who Jay was when I remembered that Manning's first name was James and understood now who she was talking about. I could almost feel the sorrow seeping out of her as she spoke and was sure that she was struggling emotionally with what she was saying. I think her and Manning had been more than just friends.

"Jay told me that a woman named Tali was involved but he never did find out in what capacity. He thought that maybe she knew Garner and certainly never knew that she worked for Rangeman up in Boston. She was the one with Jay when they were looking for Watson, she planted the drugs in his car and called in an anonymous tip to the police. Jay was upset with what happened to Watson, he said Tali never gave him a chance to talk she just shot him, and then used a second gun when he was down"

I felt Ranger's hand squeeze mine as though to calm me down. I knew that maybe we suspected her of doing it but from what Emma was saying I'd say that she knew that my gun was in my bag, Joe Morelli had a lot to answer for. Talk about seizing an opportunity, Tali must have been ecstatic when she saw that my bag had been left behind.

"He didn't know what to do. He was being told to tell Garner if he found out where Stephanie was, but he didn't want to do that. He told me that every man in Rangeman was loyal to her and desperate to find her. He never realized just how important she was to them and to you"

As Emma said that she looked at Ranger as though trying to ease how he viewed Manning. I was surprised when Ranger frowned as though something didn't add up.

"He saw Steph outside the jewelry store. Did he tell someone else, because he certainly didn't alert anyone at Rangeman, and the police were there almost immediately"

I saw as Emma's eyes went wide and she shook her head. I knew that was one of the reasons that Ranger had focused on Manning, it seemed too much of a coincidence otherwise.

"No, he didn't recognize her. He was mortified when he found out that he'd missed her and then that she'd been shot. Garner knew though, because he'd been watching that apartment, something to do with a woman there who might talk to someone"

If I understood correctly then Garner may have seen me going in and decided that Jenny had told me something. He could also have called Rosbourne which was how he'd turned up so quickly. That had me wondering if the sniper had been after me after all.

"It was after that when Jay felt that Garner was cutting him out of things, saying that Jay wasn't doing his job, not keeping him informed of what was happening at Rangeman"

I almost felt guilty for blaming Manning for things that he hadn't done. If only he'd thought to talk to Ranger, or even just told the Colonel that he wanted nothing more to do with what was happening.

"He was planning on leaving. He felt as though everyone was watching him. We arranged to meet up at the mall, but he was so paranoid that he was being followed that we hardly spoke. The last thing he said to me was that he was finished with everything and that he'd see me at my place later that night"

Which was what I'd seen on the video footage from the mall. Hell, Ranger had asked Jayce and Tali to tail him not knowing that he was setting the enemy on him.

"Babe, did you find anything?"

I shook the thoughts from my head as Ranger asked me that, remembering what I'd seen after Manning had met up with Emma.

"Tali was following him. The last I saw of Manning was outside, talking to Tali"

I felt awful having to say that in front of Emma, but I suppose she must have suspected that it was either Tali or Garner that had killed her boyfriend. I finished the water from the bottle and stood up to take it through to the kitchen. My shoulder felt a bit stiff and I wanted to stretch my legs. I was also feeling a bit despondent, the information that I'd heard about Manning didn't sit well with me, even though I'd never met the man. I felt so guilty for being so judgmental about him without knowing his side of the story and now it was too late. I felt Ranger behind me as he stood behind me and his arms came around my stomach. I didn't know what to say or how to explain how I was feeling.

"Babe, he got in too deep and couldn't get out or didn't know how to. He had no experience of being undercover and knowing when to call for support. It isn't anyone's fault except the people responsible"

"I know"

I nearly added a but, though didn't. It always amazed me how well Ranger could read me and know what I was thinking, how well he understood me. As Ranger let me go, I watched as he filled the coffee machine and took out some fruit, cheeses and cold meats from the fridge. I'd forgotten all about the mug of soup in the microwave so took it out and poured it down the sink. Yeah, we needed a break before we found out what this Colonel had to say and how the hell we were going to tackle that enormous problem called Tali.

RPOV

After hearing what Emma had said I could sense that Steph was feeling upset. She had always been sensitive to the death of anyone and Manning, it seemed, was no exception. I analyzed my own reaction to what had been said and could honestly say that given what we knew, I wouldn't have done anything differently. Manning had straddled a dangerous ledge in trying to maintain his cover. Not only was he deceiving us, but he had also misled the group that he was working with. My one regret was that he hadn't confided in someone, if not at Rangeman then the Colonel. He wasn't experienced enough to manage the situations that had occurred and with someone like Tali probably never had a chance.

Whilst I knew that we all needed to evaluate what we had heard, I was also conscious of how long I had been missing from Rangeman. No doubt Tank, Santos and Brown would be concerned with where I was, but I didn't want to risk contacting anyone in case it was intercepted, and my location was compromised. Having something to eat and a hot coffee to drink helped to relax the atmosphere that had developed ready to restart our discussion.

"As far as you know, Manoso, do we still have a problem with that drug coming into the country?"

"No. Jackson double crossed the cartel down in Mexico so I would say that they would be dealing with him, if they hadn't already. The process that produced the additive has been destroyed and I don't see Leneghan starting up again"

"McCann?"

"Dead. He'd shot Steph so Leneghan shot him to protect her"

"Okay. Denby?"

"In a safe house down in Miami. McCann sprung him from jail and then pressured him into helping. He won't give anyone any trouble"

I knew my quick answers wouldn't be questioned by the Colonel, we had too much history for him not to believe and trust what I was saying. A long time ago I think he realized that my judgement was extremely reliable and that any decisions that I made were always sound and proved to be right. Now was no exception so I was pleased that he was accepting the brief answers that I was giving him.

"I've put the word out to any contractors that we use not to touch Garner. From what I know he's somewhere in Africa so hopefully we've seen the last of him"

Hearing again that Garner was out of the country did make me feel better, but it also annoyed me that he got away with murdering people. I was pretty sure that he was there when Jenny was shot, maybe even pulled the trigger. His role with the house exploding was still eluding me though.

"How can you help us Colonel, because we have two murders to solve, both from a slashed throat and if Tali knew that Steph was still alive"

I didn't finish my sentence because I really didn't want to think what Tali would do next. Surely, she must be aware that I would never let her near me or had all of her senses left her. Would she see Steph as the reason and blame her, continuing her vendetta?

"Why does she think that Stephanie is dead?"

I looked to Emma as she asked, realizing that I hadn't mention anything about the fire at that house.

"There was an explosion and fire at a house outside Trenton, where Garner staged it to look as though Steph was there"

It was the sound smile from the Colonel that had me questioning what we actually knew about that.

"I checked into that with the fire department. There was word that some of your men were in the vicinity, so I wanted to find out if it was relevant. It was reported that the house was empty, no casualties and no dead bodies. It won't take long for Tali to find out about that"

I felt Steph stiffen next to me. Leneghan had said that he'd told Garner to make it look as though Steph was dead to appease his sister. It never occurred to me that Garner would have removed the woman from the house. I suppose when the house was cleared of the men then Garner could easily have hidden her, and my men had obviously missed it.

"The only way is to draw her out then"

Came from Steph. As I looked at her, I wasn't too sure what she meant by that or what ideas were going through her mind. If news that Steph was alive though then we'd have to act quickly or the men at Rangeman would mutiny if they thought that I'd been deceiving them. I was still trying to come up with a way to do that when the Colonel beat me to it.

"I'll bring Stephanie to Rangeman. I'll inform your men that I've been involved from the start, in fact it wouldn't be too far fetched to say that we knew what Garner was up to and made a deal with him. He left the country and handed Stephanie over to me"

It could work, but what about Tali? As I looked at Steph I had a horrible feeling that she was already one step ahead of me.

"I won't have you being bait for Tali, Babe"

"Maybe I can goad her into talking, like I did with McCann. She'll be so pissed with what's happened and to be honest I don't want her just disappearing with the possibility that she might turn up later"

It seemed that everyone was in favor of that plan except for me and seeing as I didn't have an alternative suggestion that was what we started to plan for.

An hour later I was leaving the house and heading back to Rangeman. I picked up a shadow between the house and Rangeman, recognizing Tank and Santos so pulled over onto the side of the road with the intention of filling them in on what had happened. I watched as they parked behind me and as they came toward my car, both of them to be honest looking very serious. Tank opened and got into the front seat while Santos got into the back. Before the doors had closed Santos let lose at me.

"Why the fuck did you disappear. All hells broken lose at Rangeman"

It seemed maybe news had already got out about Steph not being in that house.

"I know, I know that no body was found at that house"

Had the circumstances not been so serious I might have smiled at the looks on their faces.

"So how are we going to deal with it?"

Looking at Tank and feeling Santos close behind me I filled them in on why I'd left Rangeman so quickly. I condensed the conversations that had taken place though I was sure that they were wanting for me to give them more detail. As I filled them in on the plan that we'd devised at the house I was actually surprised at their silence.

"So, the Colonel is going to bring Beautiful to Rangeman and report to everyone what happened?"

"Yes. I'll be in my office when they arrive so I'm sure word will soon spread around the building. Steph knows that she has to act as though she hasn't seen me since disappearing, so we'll have a reunion outside on the corridor for everyone to see. Then we'll all go into the large conference room for the Colonel to give his side of the story"

"Tali is going to be pissed. Will he hint at her involvement?"

"No. He'll imply that there was someone else involved, so I'm sure that Tali will push that it was Jayce who betrayed us"

"I heard back from Reg. He's annoyed because he wasn't aware of how much time Tali was unaccounted for. He knew that she'd taken odd days off, using the excuse that her brother was ill. Neither her nor Jayce made it back to Boston when we told them to return, Reg just got a message that they were helping to tie up a few lose ends"

"The apartment?"

I asked because I remembered asking that their apartment was searched, though I wasn't too sure if there would be anything to find or if Reg would know what to look for.

"He hasn't lost his touch. Reg found a secret compartment in a room that he thinks was Tali's. Lots of photos of you and Steph, but every photo of Steph had a large red cross drawn across her face. He didn't really understand the significance until I filled him in"

"Did you tell him everything?"

Because I wasn't sure if that would be a good idea yet.

"Nah. I just told him that it seemed that Tali had the hots for you and hated Steph. He said that was an understatement from what he'd seen and added that it made sense since Tali was always asking for a transfer to Trenton and seemed keen on every story that came from there"

It made me wonder what stories he was talking about, hell if I was in Boston, it was only ever for a few days and I was always immersed in getting any work done quickly. I wasn't aware of any stories about Trenton being talked about, besides who would be telling those stories? That was something that I'd need to look into.

"So what happens after the meeting?"

This was the part that I was dreading, the part where anything could go wrong.

"I need for a team to be in my apartment. The cameras are still set up in there so get Hector monitoring and recording from them"

"Why do I get the feeling that we won't like this?"

Yeah, Santos knew that this was going to be the difficult part.

"Steph will go up to seven while I stay on five to talk to the Colonel"

"Shit Ranger, you know that Tali will be gunning for her"

I knew that and in some ways that was what we were planning on. I'd spoken with Steph about the dangers of what she wanted to do but she'd been adamant and damn it if the Colonel and even Emma had talked me down.

"Steph will be prepared for that and the men in the apartment will have to be vigilant to the situation. Step in if it looks as though Steph was in immediate danger"

I was putting a lot of trust in my men to do that but had been adamant that if I could, that I'd be inside that apartment if I could.

"I won't let anything happen to her Ranger"

"Me either. Who else do you want in there?"

I knew that Tank and Santos would make sure that they were there so we spent a few more minutes deciding who else would be involved. There was just one extra person who wanted in on this.

"Santos, when the Colonel arrives there'll be a woman hidden in his car. Make sure that Hal is on monitors and then take her up to the apartment with you"

For once Santos was speechless, so maybe I hadn't mentioned who that would be, they'd soon work that one out for themselves. As the two of them returned to their cars I started mine and continued my journey back to Rangeman. No one would dare ask where I'd been and if Tank and Santos turned up at the same time then they'd just assume that they'd been out looking for me and were making sure that I returned safely.