Chapter 56

SPOV

The two weeks literally dragged by. I had some work to keep me occupied, but with my efficient programs, it didn't take long to complete all the background checks. My appointment at 10 am will either clear me for light duties and sex, or it will lengthen my restrictions. I really need to have sex with my husband. If I had to go one more day without sex, I think I'll scream.

We woke up early in this morning. I had to rush to the washroom to empty my bladder. "Man, these little ones aren't even that big and they're already making me pee more than ever," I complained.

"It's only going to get worse," Lucas reminded me.

"I know. Don't remind me," I grumbled. "We're meeting Robin at the diner," I reminded him.

"Why did she request this meeting?" he asked.

"We're about to find out," I said as I pulled him towards the apartment door. This would be my first day leaving our apartment. Ranger placed a few men outside our door to make sure I didn't sneak out.

Lucas guided me to my car parked next to the elevator. After I buckled into the passenger seat, he backed out of our spot.

We arrived at the diner a few minutes before Robin. She was looking a little worse for wear. Whatever she had to tell me was not an easy decision.

Taking her seat across from me, she said, "I'm leaving Trenton."

"Why?"

"I was suspended from the TPD with pay until the trial concluded. Internal affairs found me guilty and I had to pay a huge fine. I lost my job and can't work in law enforcement ever again," she sadly replied. "It's time to move on."

"Do you have somewhere to go?" I asked.

She gave a small shrug, "Not really, but I need to leave. I can't live in a place where nobody trusts me. Don't worry about me though."

"If you move to New York, Newark or DC, I can contact some friends to help you find a job," I offered.

She shook her head, "I got myself into this mess, so I should figure this out for myself. Thank you for your concern."

"Take care Robin. I hope you find what you're looking for," I said before she stood and left. She gave a wave over her head as she walked out the door. I felt kind of disappointed that she didn't apologize for her actions against me. Maybe Robin didn't think she did anything wrong.

"She probably doesn't think you'll forgive her. Then again, she is leaving so your forgiveness isn't necessary," Lucas wisely said. He has a point. Robin isn't the type to hang onto hard feelings. It's a shame she basically ruined her life because of a Morelli.

We ate a light breakfast before leaving for my appointment. I was anxious to be cleared. Lucas held my hand as he drove me to the appointment. "Steph, everything will work out, you'll see," he said while stroking his thumb over my hand.

"I know, but I have a feeling she's still going to tell me to take it easy," I complained.

"Sweetheart, whatever she says, we'll handle it together," he reminded me. I gave a small nod and turned to look outside my window. Lucas has always been supportive. He's always been there for me.

How did I get so lucky to be married to this amazing man? For many years, the thought of having children scared me. Having children with Lucas fills my heart with love. I can't wait to see them… to see if they look like the beautiful children in my dreams.

As Lucas predicted, everything did work out. Though I was kind of right too, but not for the reasons I thought. Dr McNall gave me restrictions, but she assured me it was the same advice she gives to all mothers carrying multiples. I suspect Mallory will be receiving the same advice next week.

Most importantly, we can be intimate again. She did, however, tell us to be cautious and listen to my body for cues. So basically, if it hurts or makes me uncomfortable… stop. Easy peasy right? Not.

Lucas started chuckling. "Please tell me I didn't say all of that out loud," I whined.

"Sorry my love, but I can't," he said attempting to sound less amused. Just flipping great. I wonder if I'll ever stop speaking my thoughts aloud.

Bobby was waiting for us in the Rangeman garage. "She's emailing her recommendations," I said while brushing past him to enter the elevator.

Lucas entered the elevator and pulled me into his arms. He was standing behind me with his hands holding our babies. Bobby smiled in amusement. "How's Monica?" I asked knowing she was a bit angry at him.

"Fine. Why do you ask?" he was curious to know what she said to me yesterday.

"You are a complete moron. 'My life doesn't lend to relationships.' What kind of crap is that?" I said while smacking his shoulder. "We both know she understands you still have a military contract."

"What if I go away and get seriously injured… or die?" he asked hoping it was proving his point.

"Then you get injured or died," I deadpanned. "Her dad and brother were military. When she started dating you, she knew exactly what she was getting into. Don't take away her choices. Monica loves you… now go get your woman back." I practically pushed him through the doors when they opened.

Monica came over yesterday and told me the moronic statement from Bobby. He loves her, which is why he pushed her away. Telling Bobby she loves him triggered his knee-jerk response. Men… Lucas walked me to my office. He gave me a light, but passionate kiss before leaving for his shift on the monitors.

Ranger entered my office, placed a warm drink on my desk then took a seat in front of my desk. Mallory was smiling at me from across the room.

"Babe?" he asked. I was given the day off work, but I couldn't tolerate sitting in my apartment all alone for hours at a time.

"Ranger?" I sassed.

His lip slightly curled in a very small smile. Mallory was trying to stifle her laugh. "I gave you the day off," he reminded me.

"And I don't want the day off," I snapped.

"Riss wants you to join us for lunch," Ranger stated before leaving my office. My phone chimed a few seconds later. 'My apartment 1300.' Kari has been spending a lot of nights at Rangeman.

When I was nearly finished the drink Ranger gave me, I received a notification. "Damn stupid son of a bitch!" I screamed as my drink fell onto my lap. Picking up my phone, I called dad. "Rangeman… immediately," I said before hanging up.

I got up from my desk so I could change. "Did your water break?" Lucas asked when he saw me.

"It's much too early for that. I need to change. Can you gather the core team? We can talk in Ranger's office… or somewhere more private," I said while walking towards the elevator. Dad and I never ran into problems with our enemies before. I wonder what changed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LPOV

Something is terribly wrong. Stephanie looked both pissed off and scared. I'm relieved our babies are alright, but what's causing her to be so upset? As Stephanie requested, I sent Ranger a text to call a core team meeting.

I saw Frank's car pull up to the visitor entrance. After confirming he was alone in his car, I opened the gate. He parked in the visitor spot opposite of the elevator doors. As he ascended, Junior arrived to take over my monitor shift. "Boss wants you in the meeting," he said before motioning for me to leave.

Making my way to Ranger's office, he met me in the hall. "Seventh floor," he stated. I followed him to the elevator. Frank, Tank, Lester and Bobby were already waiting inside with Stephanie. We took the elevator to Ranger's apartment.

Using Ranger's laptop, she pulled up the notification. "Are you sure?" Frank asked.

"Positive. Although I'm not sure how she managed to get past the guards at Fort Leavenworth," Stephanie stated. "It's just not done."

"Babe?" Ranger asked.

"Oh… sorry guys. When dad and I were on our first mission, we ran into a man called Trigger. Actually, dad ran into him after I found him. He was detained at Fort Leavenworth until a few days ago. I'm trying to find out how and why he was released early. Last week, Helen Mazur visited Dietz in the same prison," she explained.

Frank called his contact in the military prison. He needed to know if their identities were compromised. After a few minutes, his blank face slammed down. "They know Michelle Plumbe is Eclipse and Frank Plum is Sly Fox," he stated.

"What is Trigger's agenda?" Tank asked. She turned the screen around to show him. His face blanched before passing it around.

"How did he find out?" Lester asked.

"Helen," Frank growled.

That vile woman literally painted a target on each of her daughters, grandchildren, Frank and herself. Trigger was known to eliminate entire families if a single member crossed him.

"He'll go after the snitch first," Stephanie stated. "If we watch her, we'll find him."

"Boss," Junior's voice sounded over the intercom. "Turn on the news… you need to see what's happened."

Ranger flicked on the TV and went to the local news station. '… Helen Plum, a respected mother from Chambersburg New Jersey was found dead in a hotel room. It appears she overdosed on heroine. Police are asking anyone with information to come forward.' The anchorwoman changed stories.

He flicked to another news channel. '… reports Helen overdosed, but investigators suspect she was forcibly drugged… some signs of struggle… too many needles for her to have killed herself…' Ranger turned off the TV.

"We need to stop him," he snapped. He didn't need to say anything else. We understood the implied 'to protect our family'.

Stephanie shifted until she was sitting in my lap. "I want you to hold me," she whispered. I wanted to hold her so it wasn't a hardship.

"Ram, Manny, my apartment now!" Ranger ordered over the intercom system. He watched the monitors and overrode the controls to allow the elevator to reach the seventh floor. Tank waited by the open door for the men to arrive.

"Have you secured your families?" Tank asked.

"Affirmative," they replied.

"When news broke regarding Helen's death, Valerie and the girls came to Rangeman," Ram stated.

"Mallory was resting in our apartment. Craig arrived a few minutes ago. He's with Mallory," Manny stated.

We all breathed a sigh of relieve until Stephanie gasped, "Grandma."

Before we could arrange for someone to pick up Edna, Zero called from the front desk. "Sir, there's an elderly woman here. She claims to be Stephanie's grandmother?"

"Hair tightly curled, 5'5", wearing brightly coloured clothes suitable for a teenager?" Ranger asked as he pulled up the camera in the lobby.

"Affirmative," Zero replied. He turned the screen around so we could see Edna waving at the camera.

"Send her to my apartment," Ram stated.

"Put Rangeman on lockdown," Tank ordered. "Nobody enters or leaves."

"HUA," Zero said before hanging up.

After confirming Stephanie's family was secure, Ranger started his debrief. "During the summer of 2006, a man called Trigger was captured and imprisoned at Fort Leavenworth. Diego Dietz, the former General, received a visit from his sister in law Helen Mazur. She visited her cousin shortly after."

You could tell from Ranger's tone he was disgusted with Helen's behaviour. "She basically painted a huge target on her entire family. We may never know what motivated her to visit the men," Ranger continued.

"I think I know," Stephanie stated as she showed him her phone. Ranger face displayed rage before he slammed down his blank face.

"It seems Joseph Morelli sent Helen a letter saying if she wanted to know exactly who Stephanie is, she needs to visit with Dietz at Fort Leavenworth," he growled. The men were furious. Once again Morelli is messing with Stephanie's life. "That man needs to be permanently handled," Tank said through gritted teeth.

"I have a way to handle him and we won't have to touch him," Stephanie stated. Before we could ask for her plan, she called Hector and Binkie. She asked Ranger, "Can I have them come here?"

When he gave her permission, Binkie and Hector came to join our little party. She sat at the table with the men while they modified several videos and pieced together a rather believable video. It took a few hours for them to fully edit it for release.

"Men, we need to neutralize Trigger, Diego Dietz, Damien Dietz and Morelli… in that order," Ranger ordered.

"In that order," she whispered.

Cal, Woody, Manny and I were put in charge of Rangeman again. We contacted our rehired Rangeman to work from a satellite office to handle our accounts. They were thrilled to have an active role.

Ranger, Tank, Lester, Bobby, Junior, Zip, Hal and Zero were on Ranger's team to locate Trigger. Stephanie and Binkie were using their programs to narrow down his location. "If he has a car, it will take him just over 18 hours to travel here. Since he was released a few days ago, I would be checking…" Stephanie suddenly went quiet.

"What did you find Mitch?" Binkie asked.

"I think it's Trigger. It looks like him, but the nose is different," Stephanie projected the image onto the TV screen for everyone to see.

"Where?" Ranger asked.

"Just outside Columbus Ohio. Caught him on a gas station cam," Binkie replied when Stephanie remained silent for too long.

"Daddy?" Steph asked. Frank stood behind his daughter to read the intel. She was hi-lighting an a route on the map.

"I think you're right. He's going to avoid the toll route and surveilled highway stretches," he said while patting her shoulder.

"Lebanon and Lititz Pennsylvania," Stephanie added.

Ranger raised an eyebrow. He turned to his men and planned their plan of attack with Frank. "Why Lebanon?" Lester asked.

Frank replied, "It's where we located him. Just outside Tripoli Lebanon."

They seemed to be a bit confused. Stephanie sighed and stated, "Trigger has a strange sense of humour. I wouldn't be surprised he found Lebanon Pennsylvania on a map and decided to drive the highways leading there. It keeps him off the grid… so to speak."

"Why Lititz?" Bobby asked.

She laughed, "An alternate route to throw you off. It's what I would do."

"So we cover both contingencies," Tank stated. They split their men to locate Trigger.

"He was released early for good behaviour," she said surprised.

"How early?" Frank asked.

"Ten years," she replied. Either he must have been very well behaved, or somebody helped the process along. Looking into his files, we discovered General Diego Dietz authorized his early release. "Huh… it seems our old general signed his release papers. Unfortunately it was processed prior to his arrest. If we file an appeal, it would take almost a year for his release to be revoked."

"It just gets better," Ranger mumbled.

Stephanie started laughing. Our situation didn't warrant her laughter, but once again she had to spell it out for us. "Batman mumbles," she said before laughing again. Everyone laughed at Ranger's expense before getting back to business.

Ella announced her pending arrival before bringing us dinner. She quickly dropped off the cart and left. Once all plans were finalized, we took a break to eat.

"We leave at 0100," Ranger announced. The lawyers arrived for everyone to sign the documents.

Ranger pulled my wife aside to have a brief conversation. Her eyes were filled with tears when they returned. With her work done for the day, she decided it was time to go to bed.

"Don't get shot," she said to Ranger.

"Don't go crazy," he replied. She gave Tank, Bobby, Lester, Cal, Hal, Zero, Zip, Junior and Frank a hug as she wished them luck. Stephanie was going to have problems sleeping until her men returned.