After Ranger and Kai helped me bathe and 'washed' my hair, they searched through my clothes for some appropriate wear. Ranger found a pair of light black crepe palazzo pants and a white ballerina top, and he paired it with a thin pale pink sweater. I looked pulled together and was thankful for it. It made me feel strong.

Kai gave me some milder painkillers so that I wouldn't be sleepy when Ben came. Half an hour later, Ranger was carrying me down the stairs to the dining room. My mom was putting the food out, and my father was helping wash the kids' hands. Ranger placed me at the head of the table again and poured me a cup of coffee. He then brought through a small helping of steak and mushroom pie and broccoli. It smelled amazing.

As everyone sat down and started to eat, I looked up at everyone and smiled. "I have an announcement – Kai said that my burns are starting to heal." Everyone cheered. "And", I continued, "he said that if they continue to heal at the same rate, I won't need to have any grafting done."

The adults all wiped their eyes with relief.

"What's grafting?" said Tia.

"It's a procedure they can do that helps your skin grow back. I think it is a little sore to do though, so I am quite happy with the thought that it might grow back on its own."

Tia smiled. "Do your legs hurt less?"

I grinned. "They do. They still hurt, but not as much as they did last night."

The kids all grinned.

I then looked at the Gurus. "Okay guys, what did I miss when I was playing Sleeping Beauty this morning?"

"Apparently playing Sleeping Beauty agrees with you", said Nick with a smile.

"So does hearing what is going on."

Nick and Dirk and Miguel and Julie laughed. As Miguel stopped laughing, he said, "we got a lot done, chica. We all got up at six to work. We have finished the in-depths assessments on the three terrorists, and we found some interesting things. We also delved into Felix's life a bit deeper, and found some interesting things on him as well. Then we did that overview of the different cases in front of MI6 right now, that you had suggested last night. And that showed us some interesting things as well."

There was a silence, and I put down my fork and knife and glared at them. They were all trying not to grin.

I groaned. "You're going to make me say it, aren't you?"

"Say what?" said Miguel innocently.

"Will you please tell me all those interesting things? Please, please, pretty please, with a cherry on top?"

Miguel looked at the other Gurus. "She did include the cherry", he said.

"I think we should tell her", said Dirk. "She might throw us out of the castle otherwise."

"She might cry", said Nick.

"I hate it when a grown woman cries", said Julie with a grin.

I growled.

Miguel looked at me. "Okay, it's unanimous. We'll tell you all those interesting things."

I grinned at them as they laughed.

"Ah, chica, we could never hold back information from you", said Miguel.

"Do you mean I wasted a cherry on top?"

Miguel laughed.

"Okay. Hit me."

Miguel took another bite of lunch. "All kidding aside, this information has been assembled through the phone call that we captured last night, and the text, calls and other information that we found today. So there are three terrorists and, from what we can tell, there are only three terrorists in the chapter. And they are the only chapter of the Allah Subhanah Wataealaa in the UK. It means God Almighty, according to Nick. It's handy that he can speak Arabic. They are a newer organization and are trying to develop a presence. According to the phone call, they are planning something big at Wimbledon in another few weeks.

"As I said, there are three people in the chapter, and those are the three people that were at the graduation. One is, as we discussed last night, Zalmai Omar. He is their leader and is looking to make a name for himself. He still has family in Afghanistan. He's here on an educational visa to go to university. He's taking a Master's in Chemical Engineering and is specializing in bomb development. He lives in London and goes to school there, and the mosque that he is going to is not suspected of any involvement.

"All three of the terrorists go to the same mosque, as does Felix. We assume that Felix has stopped all investigation into the mosque and its attendees.

"Okay, so we told you last night about Zalmai. His visa is up in another two years, and from what he has said in text messages to family in Afghanistan, he is looking to return and take a prominent position in the Taliban. However, to do so, he needs to make a name for himself. He's desperate for power and is willing to commit atrocities to get it.

"He has no criminal past that we know of. Socially, he's a bit of a loner. Academically he is brilliant. Financially, he is barely scraping by, but all the extra cash that he has is being funnelled into the purchase of chemicals that would be used to make a fairly complex bomb."

"How do you know that it would be for a complex bomb, Miguel?" said my mother.

Miguel laughed. "I have my doctorate in chemical engineering and my specialty is in the development of bombs and other weapons. Additionally, I was the Explosive Ordinance Disposal person on my Delta team. I've dismantled hundreds of bombs in my time and am well familiar with bomb components."

My mom stared at him in shock.

"Miguel is extremely talented in dealing with all the explosive and weaponry issues that I know nothing about", I said with a smile.

"Extremely talented", said Miguel with a smile. "I like the sound of that."

"Yeah, yeah. Get back to your story", I said with a grin.

"Just give me a minute to bask in my magnificence." I schooled a grin off my face and glared at him. He laughed. "Looks like my minute is over."

"Darn tootin'. Get talking." I glared at him again as I swallowed back a laugh.

Miguel grinned again. "He has two men that are helping him. As I said, they go to the same mosque and I don't know if that was the point of first contact. Their names are Aalem Afridi and Imdad Shah. Imdad is, like Zalmai, a chemical engineer. He is, however, doing his Bachelor's degree rather than working on his Master's. Zalmai is a teaching assistant in one of his courses, so we aren't sure if they connected in the tutorials or at the mosque or just around the campus. What we do know is that Zalmai has the true leadership talent. Imdad Shah comes from a wealthy background, and from what I can see they are including him in the group so that he can finance what is going on, a little like paying to be part of the cool crowd. He isn't doing that well in school. I suspect it is because his mastery of English is not good. It is hard to excel at the lessons if you don't understand the language. In addition to his Engineering courses, he is seeing a tutor to teach him English.

"Aalem Afridi doesn't come from a wealthy background. However, he was the youngest of a brood of eight, and was always seen as the unimportant one, the one that needed a little extra help in life. He had a traumatic birth. The umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and he was starved for oxygen for a few seconds. Despite his traumatic entrance to the world, he has recovered. He will never be the sharpest tool in the shed, but he is a good follower. He likes making people happy and will do whatever he can to make his loved ones happy. Zalmai has invited him to live in his apartment with him and takes care of him and, like a grateful puppy, Aalem does whatever he asks. Aalem is not going to university. He works in a fruit and vegetable grocer's in Zalmai's neighborhood. Again, we don't know if the point of contact is through the mosque or through the grocer's or even just around in the area.

"So those are the three terrorists. I don't know how they came into contact with Felix unless it was through the mosque. Felix, as we said last night, has two PhDs and was determined to become the head of MI6. However, Colin had written him up for questionable decisions and Felix was passed over for the promotion. This did not go over well since Felix had thought that he was a shoo-in. He made a formal complaint but by that point a woman named Eleanor had been promoted up. Felix was her second but, when she retired, Ben was promoted since Ben is well-liked and Felix isn't. Felix again made a formal complaint regarding Ben's promotion. The formal complaint made him persona non grata around the office. I'm looking forward to hearing Ben's comments on him.

"Felix was married to a Muslim woman ten years ago. Felix adopted her faith, but five years ago they broke up. The reason was listed as irreconcilable differences. I could be completely wrong, but I suspect that it was related to his increasing adoption of extreme religious practices. Over the five years that they were married, he changed mosques and she stopped going to pray. He apparently didn't like that. She started sporting bruises and broken bones. There was never an investigation though. She reported him a few times, but Felix was able to talk his way out of it each time."

"Bastard", said Raphael. "Abusive men deserve to be shot."

I smiled at the murmurs of agreement around the table. "I agree", I said.

"Can you imagine?" said Eduardo. "Dickie would have gone down and I would have been the first in line offering to kill him."

My mother and father looked at me with their mouths open. My mom turned white and was obviously upset. I smiled sadly at them.

Hal laughed. "The last I heard, he did go down. How many years did you put him in jail for, Ranger?"

Ranger laughed.

"You put Dickie in jail for hitting Steph?" said my mother. She smiled.

"No. Not for hitting Steph. Too much time had passed. However, I looked into his life and realized that he had regularly avoided paying taxes on what turned out to be several million dollars. He has another year in jail before he will be released. All of his assets were seized to pay his tax bill. He will have nothing when he is released."

I smiled. "Couldn't have happened to a more deserving man."

Ranger laughed and rubbed my arm in agreement.

"Idiot", said Eduardo. "I've never seen what you saw in him when you were younger, Steph. Seriously, he was the kind of guy that probably got manicures and had drinkie-poos at five. The kind of guy that had to get a pool-boy to keep his wife entertained. He was just an embarrassment to the male gender."

I laughed. "I was twenty when we met and I thought being married and having kids and living life in the traditional way was the way I had to live my life, even though I knew that way of life would likely make me miserable. It wasn't until I divorced that I started to think about what I wanted, and what would make me happy. When I married him, Dad knew I was making a mistake. He walked me up the aisle, kissed me and whispered in my ear that it wasn't too late and I could always come home, and handed me over to the Dick. Three months later, Dad accompanied me back to Dick's and my house to remove the things I wanted. Dick had hit me the night before, and I didn't want to go on my own."

"Thank God for parents", said Raphael.

"And then, when Dad was driving me back home with my garbage bags full of clothes, he said that I hadn't been happy in a long time and that I needed to think about what would make me happy and to go for it, even if it wasn't something traditional. So I did. And now I'm happy."

My mom looked at my dad in pride, and my dad turned red and looked down at the table. He was a pretty silent man, so his comments at the time had meant a lot to me.

"I'm glad you did, babe", said Ranger. "I'm even happier that your happy life includes me."

"And me, Mommy", said Tia.

I laughed. "I'm glad too." I scraped up the remainder of my lunch and, when my plate was clean, I looked at Miguel and Dirk and Nick and Julie. "Okay, tell me about Felix."

"As we said, in the last ten years he has adopted extreme religious practices", said Dirk. "He wanted to be the top dog at MI6 and lost out. Nick read the last seven years of text messages, so he wins the award. He said that it might be faster to teach us how to speak Arabic than it would be to read them all. However, he persevered. That's how we found out that he abused his wife, that his extreme religion was problematic in their relationship, and that he is currently still trying to get back together with her. He has started texting her again in the last three months, and at first told her that he was being made the head of MI6. She ignored the texts. Then, when he didn't get the position, he started talking to her about the fact that there was going to be a statement made in London. She has ignored all messages but has approached Scotland Yard and detailed her concerns. Because Felix is who he is, Scotland Yard has not paid attention to her."

"So somebody dropped the ball there", I said. "I wonder how angry Ben will be about that."

"I'm looking forward to seeing, chica", said Miguel.

"Okay, so that takes care of the three terrorists and Felix. Do we have anything on the ex-wife?"

"Fatima is her name", said Dirk. "She came here from Afghanistan before it turned over to Taliban rule. She went to school here, applied for citizenship, put herself through law school, opened up her own practice, and has been doing well. She specializes in helping abused women, and she has an incredible track record. She apparently is known for her empathy and killer courtroom skills. She is renting a house and shares it with two other women, is keeping current on her bills, is vegetarian...I found out lots but I'm not sure what else would be helpful. She hasn't picked up any calls from Felix in the last five years, nor has answered any texts. Her roommate, however, did call the police a couple of times to report someone creeping around their house. The police, unfortunately, took some time to respond and by the time they got there the intruder had disappeared. Another time, when all three roommates were out of the house, the house was broken into and trashed. I would assume that was when Felix stole the gun."

"Registration of the gun?"

"Legal. She got it when she first left Felix. She had been put in the hospital that time with a broken arm, a concussion and severe bruising."

I thought about everything. "Any interesting cases that MI6 has in front of them?"

Miguel smiled. "You're losing your touch."

"No! What did I miss?"

"What Felix did before he became a spymaster."

"What did he do?"

"He was a spy", said Julie with a smile. "And he specialized in issues concerning the Taliban."

I stared at them. "Do you think he flipped?"

"Looks like it, chica", said Miguel.

I sat back and thought about that. "What are the cases that he has in front of him?"

"He's the Middle East expert, so he is involved in all cases to do with that area of the world. As the spymaster, he directs the missions and determines the actions that need to be taken."

"Crap. So he could be discreetly helping the Taliban perform atrocities without the UK knowing?"

"Yes."

"This is so not good."

"No, it isn't", said Miguel.

"I also have some news for you", said Ranger.

I smiled at him. "What's up? Please tell me it's ice cream for dessert."

Ranger laughed. "Better."

"What could be better than ice cream?"

"Hal and I talked to Lili this morning. We told her what was going on and that we needed her to stall on helping Felix. As I told her, Felix was trying to identify and find her new boss, and I needed her to keep you quiet."

I tried to hide a smile. "I don't like people keeping me quiet."

Ranger laughed. "You know what I mean. She is going to refer all requests to me, and I am going to confuse the issue. In the meantime, she said to wish you well and she was wondering if, at some point when you feel better, she'd be able to visit."

I smiled. "I would like that. We could invite her for lunch one day."

"I think we should invite Lili one day, and then Lili and the managers one day as well. I know that you would like to know everyone, and I am sure that will be just as important to the other people on the team."

I grinned. "Thank you for doing that. And although that was good news, it wasn't as good news as hearing there is ice cream."

Ranger grinned. "Then I'll make you really happy at dinner."

"Jeez, Ranger", said Nick. "Keep it in the bedroom."

Grace looked at Nick in confusion. "You want Daddy to eat in the bedroom?"

I laughed as Nick flushed. "Daddy likes eating in the bedroom", I said, "but he likes eating in the dining room even better."

"Less crumbs on the mattress that way", said Tia.

"I was thinking less drips." Ranger coughed and flushed. I looked at him and bit back a grin. "Of ice cream. What were you thinking of?"