Chapter 21

"I'm so sorry," Kiera whispered after seeing the blue teddy bear tattoo. "The rumour is true?" She was referring to me joining the Army after losing my son.

"Which one? The rumour where I joined the Army because I lost my son? Or I killed my son so I could join the Army?" I heard both circulating among the men. Whoever spread the second one will be meeting me in the boxing ring.

"Where you joined the Army because you lost your son. Why would someone say you killed your son?" she was curios to know.

"I have no clue why, but I have a strong feeling I know who started it. At least I know of two possibilities." One was my incubator. When I was in California, Valerie saw me in my Army uniform at the mall after my debrief. The other possibility was Carl Costanza's sister Tabitha Turner. She got married after high school and they joined the Army together. Tabitha was the persistent woman we encountered after the Hernandez mission. BD sent a letter after he found out. He was 'proud' of me. Incubator wrote me a letter too but I burned it without opening it.

"Is it someone you know?" she asked.

I laughed bitterly before answering, "You could say that. It was either my incubator or my ex-boyfriend's sister. My bet is on my incubator."

"Incubator?" she asked not understanding until I rubbed by stomach. "Ah... the baby... your biological mother." Huh... interesting choice of word. "I also heard you were adopted," she was quick to explain. "I heard of a girl back home who caused herself a lot of trouble." Kiera started telling me about this girl back home who was caught prostituting herself after work. The girl got pregnant then cried rape. Two upstanding families were defending themselves. Jenkins had sex with the 'Italian Stallion' and he was gentle with her. Although he was more focused on his own sexual release than hers but he was still kind. They parted ways amicably. She too was convinced the runaway girl was lying. When she got to the part where this girl ran away from the city and how happy everyone was when the embarrassment left, I had tears running down my face. "Fanny, what's wrong?"

She sat behind me to brush my hair. "You're from Trenton New Jersey," I said my voice monotone. Kiera nodded. "Do you see this scar?" I ran my finger across my stomach. "My second rapist cut me while he was ejaculating inside me. This innocent little dead boy... he's the result of the semen that ran from my bleeding asshole into my vagina... as the second man pumped into me. I need my husband. Please leave." Kiera ran from my room crying. She made the connection between me and the runaway girl from home. My decision was made. I'm leaving the Rangers. To be a Ranger, you need to shut down your emotions. With my rampant hormones, it was getting more difficult to compartmentalize them. The writing is on the walls. This would be my final mission.

Carlos came into our room and pulled me into his arms. I cried until I fell asleep. Soft voices woke me up. "I didn't know it was her," I heard Kiera say. "Her name is Fannie Palmer here. How was I supposed to know she was really Stephanie Plum? She looks different from when she lived back home."

"Everything she lived through changed her. She's not the same girl I met on the beach when we were sixteen. Her old family disowned her and put her up for adoption when they discovered her pregnancy. The family who adopted her treats her better than her biological one ever has. They spread lies throughout the community to ostracize her from her friends. Then I had to be all stupid acting like I knew what was best and tried to get my cousin to dump her. The first man who raped her, Joseph Morelli, is now a cop and the second guy Dickie Orr is a corporate lawyer," Lester was telling Kiera and the guys. Kiera gasped.

"They've been together that long and why didn't she file charges?" she asked feeling worse for heavily flirting with my husband. Kiera was also remorseful from defending Morelli.

"Yes. It was love at first sight. I've never seen anything like it before. They can sense each other and know when something is wrong... even when they're thousands of miles apart. You don't mess with that kind of cosmic connection. You've heard the lies... what do you think?" Lester answered.

"That she would have been better leaving that place and never returning," she came to the same conclusion as me.

"Is that true?" I whispered to Carlos, referring to him sensing when something is wrong.

"It is true. When you lost Stephan, I would have been by your side sooner if I was able to catch a flight. They were booked solid for days," he answered. "Come on, we need to leave soon."

"She's a very intelligent woman. Despite everything she experienced, she graduated high school with a 4.0 GPA and 99.5% grade average," Cal added. "She took AP Chemistry, AP Biology, AP Physics, AP Math, AP English, Music, AP History, AP Geography, Spanish, AP Italian, AP Computer programming and Business administration. In case you think she only took bird courses," Cal further elaborated.

"It was very difficult completing that many courses between July 1st and December 31st of the same year," I added when I entered the room.

"How did you manage?" Kiera asked.

"One course at a time and extra hours daily, including weekends," I answered honestly. It distracted me from missing Carlos in between his visits.

"Through grit and grace," Tank said as he entered the room. He gave me a hug before piling our packs and equipment by the door.

A few guys packed the Jeeps while Carlos and I disposed of the trash. One of the neighbourhood teens will take the garbage to the curb on garbage day. He will also mow the lawn and take care of any other yard work.

I took my position in the front seat of our Jeep, squashed between our driver and Carlos. Jenkins was in the back trapped between Tank and Bobby. She looked like a small child. I started laughing, unable to control my reaction.

"Babe, what's funny?"

"Jenkins... if Tank or Bobby move, she'd get swallowed up by their muscles. She's so tiny..." I kept laughing. "Like a child," I said on a laugh.

Tank and Bobby were grinning. Jenkins started laughing too. "You're right, I do..." she bent over from laughing. It felt good to release the tension this mission is already causing. I had a feeling Jenkins and I are about to have our eyes opened.

We took a flight to a small village in Spain. Their dialect was slightly different from what I learned, but it didn't take long for me to catch on. My husband easily transitioned into the new dialect. Kiera didn't speak Spanish, but she understood enough to know what people were saying. Carlos and I drilled her whenever the opportunity presented itself. We would converse in Spanish, she had to listen to our conversation and report back to Lester with the translation. Lester already knew what we wanted her to pick up. He confirmed she caught all the important details.

I was starting to relax knowing Kiera would have my back when the men were otherwise occupied. Bobby, my doula, was also watching my back. To remain in character, he won't be able to stay at my side as often as Kiera. As my servant, she was expected to be near me as much as possible.

Sabine Cortez led us to our suite in our own wing of the mansion. She's a very attractive woman with a perfect body and skin. Her long sleek dark hair fell down her back to her waist. Her brown eyes were cold. The men would be staying in the other rooms in our wing. We assumed our rooms were bugged. I started learning various sign language words to relay my thoughts to the men. Tank was an excellent instructor. He was very patient. Kiera quickly picked up on the signs.

Mrs Cortez kept flirting with my husband. He worked tirelessly to stay out of her sights. After our third week in the house, we went shopping so we could talk without her listening. Speaking Italian he said, "She said to ignore you and she'll show me exactly what a woman could do with a man like me. No woman should ever defile their body to carry such an abomination."

I replied, "A baby isn't an abomination. Her husband Diego is too excited about my baby. He keeps touching me. They want us to stay until the baby is born. I don't like where my mind is going." Diego wants my baby. Either for himself or to sell.

"She keeps asking about the due date, insisting the doctors are wrong," he added.

"This assignment is starting to make me feel uneasy," I admitted for the first time. "We need to reveal their contacts soon."

"Me too. Something doesn't smell right. We could speed this along, but I need you to be completely on board," he suggested.

"Didn't she find Lester attractive too? Is there a way we can use him?" If Carlos allowed her to get closer to him, there's a risk of her forcing him to be intimate.

"We're on the same wavelength. I will never cheat on you. My heart, soul and body are yours. No other woman will have my body," he pulled me into his arms. "I love you."

"I love you too. So we could ask Lester?" I asked.

"Probably. He's good with the ladies. I don't want to order him."

I laughed, "I think he'll rise to the challenge."

We returned to the mansion with our purchases and went into our suite. I bought more underwear and a lotion for my abdomen. Carlos grabbed the lotion from me and pulled my shirt off. He kissed his way down my body and settled on my belly. A few loving words were said to our daughter before he opened the lotion and rubbed some into my tightening skin.

His warm hands felt amazing on my body. Carlos pulled my stretchy pants down my legs, growling when he saw I was completely bare. Staying on his knees, he guided me to the bed and had me sit on the edge. My left leg was lifted over his shoulder. His mouth kissed his way up my right thigh. When his warm tongue licked me, I thrust my hips towards his face. The baby bump pressed against his forehead. He gently pushed me to lay on the bed. Lifting my right leg, he placed it on his other shoulder and moved his mouth back to the apex. I shuddered as he gently bit my clit. A powerful orgasm moved through my body.

"So responsive," he whispered. I knew they could hear us if they were listening. Carlos moved my body up the bed before crawling up my body and entering me. I screamed his name as he sat back on his feet and angled my body. He was hitting all the right places in me. We discovered this position when I was pregnant the first time. "I love seeing you round with our child. Your body is beautiful and sexy," he whispered as he drew another orgasm from my body, pulling him over the edge. "Mine," he whispered in my ear as we cuddled.

"Mine," I whispered in his ear. We cuddled for a few more minutes until my stomach grumbled. I needed to eat something. A light knock sounded on our bedroom door. Carlos quickly dressed while I pulled one of his shirts to cover my body. "Enter," I shouted.

Kiera entered the room followed by Bobby. It was time for my baby wellness check up. I nearly forgot. "We should wash you up," Kiera whispered. She led me to the washroom and helped me wash off the remnants of sex. "You two were very loud," she whispered into my ear. Kiera was braiding my hair after helping me in the shower.

"I can't help it. He's my personal sex god," I whispered back. We muffled our giggles.

Bobby was waiting in my bedroom with the equipment. My little girl was still on track with her development. He used the portable ultrasound machine to check the placenta. When I told him about Stephan, he promised to keep a close eye on my daughter. "Everything looks great Misha," Bobby said using my cover name.

"Thank you, doula." I've been instructed to call him by his job not his name. Kiera was using her middle name of Lynn. It was very easy to keep them straight. I wasn't supposed to interact with the guards since that was my husband's job.

Lester was able to get closer to Sabine, but she wasn't giving us any useable information. An adoption that was supposed to happen was suddenly cancelled. The adoptive parents refused to pay extra money for the baby.

A month later, my patience was really wearing thin. I'm eight months pregnant, my daughter is due in eight weeks. It's now November 30, 2007. We weren't progressing very well in this mission. I had a feeling they didn't want us to leave and I wanted to be home for Christmas.

Pretending to not understand Spanish was a bit of a challenge. It took all my inner strength to prevent myself from reacting to Sabine's words to my husband. As I watched her flirt with my husband during dinner. Something she said struck a chord. I needed to use a computer or get someone to look into something for me, to verify my theory. She's been hiding for so many years. We'd have to wait to relay the message. Kiera and I discovered our conversations were completely undetected while I was in the shower. She was my best shot at getting the message to Tank. Her sign language skills surpassed mine. In my defence Kiera has a deaf cousin and Tank has a deaf sister. I noticed they started growing closer.

Kiera 'helped' me shower after dinner tonight. She started the water while I undressed. I was very comfortable with her seeing my naked, pregnant body. We needed to have a private conversation so I motioned for her to undress. It wasn't the first time we shared the shower to relay messages and I knew it wouldn't be the last during this case. I climbed into the shower and let the hot water run over my body. Kiera's small arms wrapped around my body from behind. "What's going on?" she whispered in my ear.

"Sabine isn't her real name. Her name is Camille Sanchez. She's either deep undercover or up to her neck in baby trafficking. I'm betting she's the mastermind," I whispered.

"What about her husband?"

"Diego Cortez is his real name. He's a very wealthy man but he's more interested in an heir than he is selling babies. I think he wants my baby."

"Are you sure?" she asked as her hands rubbed over my stomach.

"Positive. My friend's been looking for Sanchez for years. When she mentioned exporting lavender, I knew exactly who she is. I need someone to look into it," I explained.

"I'll tell him," she said referring to Tank. "He's going to the local bar tonight. He'll send the message when he checks in." She finished rinsing my hair.

I wrapped my towel around me as Kiera dressed. She followed me into the bedroom to help me rub lotion into my skin. Carlos entered the room as she was rubbing lotion onto my legs. His eyes darkened as he watched Kiera's hands move across my body. Kiera noticed and lightly laughed. She passed my husband the lotion to finish the job.