Chapter 10
RPOV
I woke from a fitful sleep on the couch to Ella coming into the room and made to sit up, wiping my hands over my face.
"You don't look too good Ranger"
"I'm fine"
"I hear Tank gave you a work over yesterday"
"I deserved it"
"Well at least you ate something last night, just make sure you get your rest"
I looked at Ella as she started to tidy away in the kitchen, hell she sounded just like my mother had done when I was a kid.
"Don't give me that look, you know if you're going to find our girl you need to be on top of your game"
Our girl, hell was that what Steph was around here? I suppose maybe she was, I mean all the men, at least those who knew her well and even Ella all saw her as one of us. When the hell had that happened? I mean when she first turned up everyone was so wary of her. Her way of attracting danger and how she dealt with things certainly took them by surprise, making it so dam hard to keep up with her. I suppose I took her ways in my stride, not realizing how I was changing to keep up with her. When had that happened? I suppose it was the first day I met her, I'd never come across anyone like her before. She turned all of my routines and ways of doing things upside down and I just went with it.
Trying to change anything about Steph just wasn't going to happen, she was a whirlwind that brought a change in the atmosphere, a change where we all felt that someone actually cared for us, listened to us and left us with a renewed hope for how we saw ourselves. I went over to Ella and held her in my arms, kissing her on her head.
"I'll bring her back home Ella"
She nodded and moved away trying to hide how upset she was and then she was back to the business at hand.
"There's omelet and fruit on the counter, I'll leave something up here for tonight"
Then she was gone, pushing her cart out of the door. I ate the breakfast, not that I wanted to but because I knew it would upset Ella if I didn't and then went into the bathroom to shower and change. I still didn't want to shave but with a sigh pulled open the doors of the cabinet to get out a new blade. I stopped, staring at the contents on the bottom shelf, conscious that all of the things I was seeing belonged to Steph. Hell there were constant reminders of her throughout the apartment that I was so used to seeing I didn't notice them anymore. She was already a part of my life and I hadn't realized just how much. It was something to think about, but not now, later.
It was later than my usual time for getting down to five, there was no point in visiting the gym until my ribs and shoulder ceased from being so sore, so I arrived in time for the morning meeting.
"Ranger there's nothing new on finding Steph, she's totally disappeared"
"Hector"
"All systems in place and up and running, Miami is mirroring our system but so far no glitches"
"Okay I followed up with the skip Steph was looking for, there's something weird going on there but I still need to get to the bottom of it. Hector have you heard of a man called Adrian Buckley?"
"Si, genius. A lot of our sensors and analytical programs are based on his work"
"Could he have tampered with the systems?"
"No, he has been quiet for years, our systems have advanced since we used his as a starting point"
"Any idea what he was up to?"
"No, he hasn't patented anything or written any papers for years. But knowing him he was probably working on something"
"Miguel where are you at with that new installation?"
"Ready for it to go online"
"Hector?"
"I see no reason to postpone it any longer"
"Set it up then and Tank let the company know they'll be on our systems tomorrow"
"Hal, keep the patrols as they are just to cover ourselves"
The meeting finished with everyone leaving quietly, hell if we didn't find Steph soon the men weren't going to cope very well with that. I went back to my office and almost let out a moan at the stack of papers in my in tray, yeah, I knew daily reports and timesheets needed to be done. Bobby would soon have medicals completed which meant those reports would soon hit my desk.
I spent the rest of the morning doing the mundane tasks needed to keep the company ticking over. The accountant had my sheets so the men would get paid and Tank and Santos had their quarterly reviews to look over before sending them through to me. I needed to do something and in the past that would have been to work out in the gym, instead I took my gun and ammunition down to the range. Maybe shooting the shit out of targets would release some of the tension that was building up.
It was late afternoon when I was locking the guns back up into my safe that my mobile phone went off, a message had come through and I could feel hope stir inside of me. Was it Steph trying to get in touch with me? As I looked at the display on the screen my heart sank, why the hell would she try to contact me after the way I had treated her, but as I had no idea where the message was coming from I opened the screen and started to read the message.
"You need to help her"
I had no idea what the message meant but a glimmer of hope had me assuming the message was to do with Steph, but who was messaging me and how was I supposed to help her? I pressed reply and responded with one word.
"How?"
"You know of where she is"
Dam it, how was I supposed to know, how was that cryptic clue helping? But lastly if the person who was messaging me knew where Steph was why didn't she just tell me?
"Why can't you just tell me where she is?"
"Not secure"
It never occurred to me that my phone could be hacked, shit, what else was there that could now be susceptible to being broken into. I immediately headed down to Hector's office finding both Hector and Mateo working at their stations. I needed to talk with Hector alone so with a nod of my head at him walked out of the office and into the room next door. This room had been designated to storing and testing the equipment we used with our clients. As the door closed, I handed my phone to Hector who read the messages and then took out his phone from his pocket.
"I don't understand, there's no number associated with the incoming or outgoing messages"
"So you can't trace it?"
"No"
"Hector any ideas on what it means?"
"It say you know of where she is, so a place that very few people would know about?"
"But how would Steph know?"
"She nosey, she sees things, she take notice of lots that we take for granted"
Then it hit me, the photo that she'd taken from Santos's house, I had the same one sat in a drawer upstairs in my apartment, a photo of the core team when we officially started the business. The photo had been taken before this building was finished, well that's not true, the building was finished but we were just about to move into it. The photo had been a kind of celebration outside of the building where all of my ideas and plans had been developed. It was where I started and lived while I collected together the money and resources to bring Rangeman alive.
Hector didn't know about that building, hell only the four of us had. Santos had set his camera on a timer when the photo had been taken, so no one else was involved. But I'd kept that building, I don't know why really, was I that sentimental that I just didn't want to get rid of it by selling it or did I have my business head on and thought that in years to come it might be worth a lot more money so would be an investment opportunity.
I took the stairs up to seven two at a time going through to the safe in my bedroom and pulled out a box file with all of the details of the place. It was where I first put in a security system, state of the art at the time, and then built my ideas from how it worked. I pulled a fob from the box and watched as a piece of paper fell out onto the floor, an old newspaper clipping from when Steph had brought in Morelli and uncovered the drug dealing ring. Hell, I'd been living in that building when I'd first met Steph, I was there when she called asking for my help. I'd been both amused and annoyed at that call but when she called back saying she needed someone to release her from the shower rail I'd been more than eager to go and help her. Why had I kept this clipping? Something to think about later, I didn't have time to reminisce.
I had to move quickly but very carefully if what the message said was true, that there was still a security issue. I messaged Santos on my way back down to meet me in the garage and then messaged Bobby to be around in case we needed him. Once down in the garage I walked over to a car under a dust sheet, hidden away in the far corner of the garage.
"Santos move the SUV so I can get this out"
Give him his due he did what I asked without question and then got into the passenger seat of the black Mercedes. Yeah, I'd managed to track it down after Steph had it stolen from her and made sure it was in pristine condition ready to be used for just such an occasion as this. There were no trackers now on this car, so I switched off my phone and dropped it out onto the dustsheet waiting for Santos to do the same and hand it over. As I pulled out of the garage I handed my keys and fob to Santos.
"Leave them in the lobby, I don't want anyone to know where we are going"
That done I spent the next thirty minutes following an evasive route to be sure we didn't have anyone following us.
"We're clear Ranger, you want to tell me what the hell is going on?"
"I received a strange text message that may be a clue as to where Steph is"
"Where?"
"My original building, the one we worked from at the start"
"The one that was in that photo?"
"Yes"
"Hell, how could she have worked out where the hell that was?"
"I don't know, maybe from the photo but if she's there I don't care, it's something she can explain when we find her"
"You using the garage entrance?"
"Yeah, I need to keep the car out of sight"
"You got the old fob?"
"Yes"
"Hell I just assumed you'd sold that building"
"No, I changed the name on the deeds and hid it from anyone, thinking that by keeping it's ownership anonymous I might sell it in the future but to be honest I couldn't sell it"
"You being sentimental Ranger?"
"Maybe"
The approach to the garage was complicated, going through alleys that doubled back on themselves and coming to a stop in front of a double door that when I opened it with the fob gave just enough room for the car to come to a stop and the doors to close behind us. Once the doors closed a second set of doors slid to the side revealing a large parking area.
"Hell, I'm surprised you've still got power in here and everything works"
"I left the power on and made sure all the gear systems and motors were well greased just in case"
As we exited the car I fobbed open a second door that led up some stairs to a door that led into the lounge area. That door also required the fob and when closed resembled the wooden boards that covered the whole area of the wall. In other words no one would know it existed just from looking at it. The garage and area underneath had housed all of our weapons and equipment so at the time we all thought it was important to secure that area as best we could.
I looked around the lounge area and kitchen, as it once was, not seeing the way time had ravaged at some of the cupboards and the old couch but remembering the way it used to be. Seeing nothing amiss I headed up the stairs to the next floor and while Santos went into what had been his room, I went straight into the room that had been mine. I stopped dead at the entrance, my eyes riveted on the scene in front of me, I hadn't realized how fast my heart had been beating until it started to slow down because there laid on the bed was the most beautiful sight, my Babe.
She was dressed in the clothes as Santos had described, her hair falling around her face, but as I got closer to her, I knew something was wrong. Her breathing was labored, and I could hear a rasping coming from her chest, a feel of her face showed that she was hot and looking at her again her cheeks were flushed. As I sat on the bed next to her and rolled her to her back she started coughing, loud angry bouts and I knew immediately that she was seriously ill.
"Santos, I need to get her out of here, check the place for anything that's hers and follow me down"
I gently picked her up and making sure her head was resting against my chest as I lifted her in my arms then started for the stairs with Santos close behind me. Once in the lounge area Santos took the car keys and the fob, he knew how the system worked, and soon I was in the back of the car with Steph cradled in my arms. As the doors started to open Santos put the car in gear and we were eventually driving back down the alleys making our way across town toward Rangeman. I had never felt as relieved as I did just holding her to me and as I swept a curl from her face I placed a kiss gently on her forehead. All that was important at the moment was that she had been found.
"How do you want to do this Ranger?"
"Stop the car in front of Rangeman, I'll pick up our keys and fobs then you drive into the garage. I'll kill the camera feeds and take her up to the infirmary"
"I'll alert Bobby to clear his area and expect a patient"
As Santos stopped in front of Rangeman I lay Steph across the seat and exited to pick up our things. If Binkie was surprised, he didn't show it when I left the way I'd gone in and ran to open the garage doors for Santos to drive into the garage. With the cameras down I lifted Steph from the back of the car and quickly made my way to the elevator and up onto Bobby's corridor. He was waiting by his open door as I emerged and didn't need an explanation as he quickly led me through to his treatment room. As soon as Steph was laid on the bed he started to check her over, listening to her heart and chest and taking her blood pressure and temperature.
"We need to undress her and maybe clean her up then I'll have to put in an IV, she needs antibiotics and fluids, and she needs to be cooled down"
"What's wrong with her?"
"Pneumonia, but hopefully we've caught it in time"
Between us we removed the clothes from her, hell she was so hot, Bobby forever the medic made sure a sheet covered her, but the both of us used cool water to wash her down and then dressed her in a T-shirt and shorts that for some reason Bobby had here. Once done I stood back watching while he inserted the IV needle and started the flow of fluids into her body.
"How long?"
"Maybe four hours for the antibiotics to start working, I've given her two lots. She should be up and about soon, but she'll be weak, a week for her to feel better but then it depends on her, she'll still be coughing and it can take weeks to get over the tiredness"
I pulled up a chair and set it next to the bed sitting down with her hand in mine, if after she woke up she didn't want anything to do with me then I'd leave her alone and maybe ask Santos to be with her, I was really desperate though for her to accept my apology and let me show her how sorry I was and how wrong I'd been.
