Ranger placed me on one of the sofas in one of the living rooms. I particularly liked that living room. It was ivory with grass green and pale blue accents, and the finished effect was light and refreshing and clean. Ranger sent a text out to everyone asking them for a meeting in fifteen minutes, and told them that I would review the dossier that the Gurus had created in the meantime.

As Ranger went into the kitchen to make me the smoothie, I opened up the dossier on my tablet and looked it over. As usual, the team did an amazing job.

I looked over the capture locations that were identified, and I agreed with the top three locations for each person. However, I thought that Felix would be the difficult one to capture – if we captured the terrorists first. If Felix was captured first, there would be no warning for him that his capture was imminent, and no warning that he was in trouble. However, if we caught the terrorists first, Felix would know that something was up and he would adapt his behavior accordingly.

So, in order that they would best be caught, would be Felix, Zalmai, Imdad, and Aalem. I personally thought it was the only way that we'd be able to get them all without anyone escaping.

The Gurus filtered in first. "How are you feeling, chica?" said Miguel. As I looked at them, they all looked worried.

I grinned. "The infection is gone and although I have to keep taking antibiotics for a while, I am not in as much pain. Yesterday, with the infection I was about a fifteen out of ten on the pain scale. Today, when I woke up I was a ten, and when I took some medication I started dropping. I am now a six. I can't tell you how much better I feel." The Gurus looked relieved.

"When you didn't come down for meals or for a visit yesterday", said Dirk, "we were all worried. And then Ranger said that you'd been taking morphine all day, we were even more worried. What the hell happened?"

"Val happened." The men all growled. "I talked on the phone to her and she said some horrible things about my parents. Unfortunately, my parents were there at the time. I was extremely upset that I brought that pain to them, and I rolled over to cry into my pillow – and hit my legs as I did it, disturbing the scabs and the healing that had happened. I even burst some of the blisters, and that is what got infected. The last two days have been a bit rough, but I'm grateful to be on the mend again."

Nick looked at me with wet eyes, and Julie swiped some tears from her face. "Thank God", they said at the same time.

"You four did an incredible job on this document", I said.

"We were thinking that we should take them in the order of Felix, Zalmai, Imdad and Aalem", said Miguel. "I don't know if you've had much chance to review the document to determine order of takedown yet."

I smiled. "I just did, and I absolutely agree with you. Felix definitely has to be the first. He's the kingpin that everyone is orbiting around, and he's the one that would have the power to pull the plug on the mission. I think what makes the most sense is for him to be taken at work. I don't know how Ben wants to do that, but taking him at work is the best idea and it will also send a message to any other spies that it is not a good idea to be a double agent. I know that, whomever was developing Felix's capture plan, thought the same and I agree that is a good idea. For Zalmai, I agree that capturing him at a tutorial where he is teaching would be the best place. It would also embarrass the hell out of him, and that is always a good thing. The problem is that it is May and although he would still be working on his thesis, he may not be teaching as the students are all out for summer vacation. However, keeping surveillance on the house he lives in and then storming the house in the middle of the night and capturing him in his SpongeBob onesie is always fun, and you could do a twofer and get Aalem while you are there. Additionally, I would break the team into two and take Imdad at the same time as Zalmai and Aalem. I would hate for Zalmai to be able to somehow get a message to Imdad and have Imdad become a runner."

"That's what I was thinking", said Nick.

"The one problem is that, although those plans make the most sense, have you confirmed that they are all in London?"

"Felix is", said Julie. "However, the three terrorists are not."

"They're running around Scotland?"

"Yes."

"Have you identified any patterns?"

"They frequently stay at a cheap hotel in Glasgow", said Julie. "However, they haven't stayed there in the last ten days. Additionally, they like to eat at Subway and do it a lot."

"Are they sticking together?"

"Yes, but because there is no real pattern, we were having a bit of a difficulty identifying where to pick them up."

"Are they mostly in the Inverness area?" I said. The four Gurus nodded.

I thought for a moment. "At first thought, I'm thinking that it's going to have to be a charge and capture in that we send the team to Inverness and, when something like a credit card transaction takes place, the team will be close by and able to capture them then. It's a bit trickier, but if the guys are close by, as soon as the transaction registers, the men will be able to go. If we are lucky, it will be for a transaction like a Subway order, and they'll decide to eat in the restaurant. So that's my first thought. However, my second thought is to hijack Felix's phone after he is captured and send a text to them directing them to a certain location to meet with Ranger to pick up the map, and then have Ranger and a team collect them for Ben. The second option is a little riskier but also a little more straightforward."

"I like the charge and capture option best", said Dirk. "If it doesn't work, there would be little chance that the terrorists would figure out that we are as close to them as we are. However, if the second option flubs, it will let the terrorists know that someone is after them and the chances of them going dark are high."

I smiled. "That was my conclusion as well."

Ben and Ranger and Hal walked in, and Ranger handed me a large glass of smoothie with a big straw in it. I looked at it and grinned. "My God! This is so big I'll be able to put it on the floor and it will be the perfect height for me to sit on the sofa and drink it."

Ranger laughed. "Not quite."

I smiled at him softly. "Thank you for making it."

Ranger smiled. "No problem." He looked around the living room. "I looked over the case files, and you did an incredible job. What are you thinking concerning capture locations?"

I looked at Miguel, and he went over everything that we had been talking about.

Ranger turned to Ben when he was finished. "My team is used to doing this type of work, but we also have no jurisdiction here. In the States, we are on the FBI Hostage Rescue Team, and we are also members of the local police force. We all have the identification and gear associated with the different teams and we have authority. We, however, don't have authority here and as much as my team are chomping at the bit to take down the assholes who hurt Steph, the last thing I want is the team to be put in jail."

Ben smiled. "That would be the ending from hell for this case, wouldn't it?"

I laughed. "It sure would."

"I'll use one of my teams, working in conjunction with your team. If you can capture them and feed the information through to us, we'll come and arrest them."

"Thank you", I said. "What kind of timing are you thinking of?"

"I'd like to move quickly on arresting Felix. If I can get the team together, I would like to take Felix at work the day after tomorrow, and I'd like to take the terrorists the same day. For some reason, I think that will be important. Do you think that Felix is checking in with them daily?"

Nick opened his computer and checked the logs. "No", he said, "We've been tracking his cell usage, and according to that, he has been careful to make sure that he isn't talking to the terrorists too often or on a regular schedule. The last time he talked to them he said that he had talked to Castle Force, and they had told him that he would have to talk to Ranger. We then have a call with Ranger that, by the way, you did an excellent job with." Ranger smiled slightly. "I have been listening to them as they come in, but those are the only ones that are relevant."

"Is he keeping the calls vague or is he being specific?"

"Fairly specific. I'll let you listen to the call with Ranger", said Nick. He clicked into the call, turned up his speakers and sat back.

"Um, Nick? Are you sure this is a good idea?" said Miguel.

"It's fine", I said irritably. "Don't baby me."

The phone call started. "May I please speak with Ranger?" said Felix.

"This is Ranger."

"My name is Felix. I'm the second-in-command for MI6. I understand that you are the new owner of Castle Force."

"Yes."

"As a member of MI6, I do a lot of work with Castle Force. You have an incredible research department, and we rely heavily upon your work."

"Good to know. I will pass the message along to the researchers."

"I have a secret research project for you to do. Ben Fowler, who is the head of MI6, has been caught working with terrorists. He, however, knows that I am on to him and am ready to bring him in. Because he has figured out that I am looking into things, he has gone dark. I need you to find him."

"We can do that. What has he been doing?"

"He's been working with the Taliban. The last I knew, he was attending his niece's uni graduation. A bomb went off, that I suspect Ben set off himself for a diversion, and he hasn't been seen since."

"I read about that bomb. Are you sure he wasn't caught in the fire?"

"While I think that is what he deserves, people have reported that an American woman carried him out. I have not been able to confirm that."

"What did she look like?"

"I don't know."

"Where did she go after she carried the asshole out?"

"I don't know. I need to find out whatever I can about this woman – everything from who she is to where she has gone to why she is here. I have to find out if she is part of the terrorist group."

"So you want us to find out who the American woman is, where she is, and why she is in Scotland. You want us to find out if she is associated with Ben Fowler, and you want to know where Ben Fowler is and how you can capture him?"

"Yes. You know what you are doing."

"This isn't my first rodeo."

"How soon do you think that you can find out that information?"

"I don't know. That isn't a question that I can answer as I don't know the team that will be doing the work well enough. I know that my own team in the US would probably take about three days, depending upon how many more details you could find out about her. If you can't find any more information on her and are leaving it up to us, it would take us a bit longer. So you don't have any more information on the girl other than that she is American?"

"No."

"Not even physical characteristics?"

"No. All I know is that after she carried Ben out, she was taken to the hospital."

"See? That's the kind of information that is useful. Is Ben big?"

"Yes."

"So she's probably a hefty woman herself." There was a pause and I glared at Ranger, but I knew my eyes were twinkling as well. He grinned back at me. "So she's a hefty American, who carried Ben out, and was taken to the hospital. Anything else?"

"No."

"Was she a graduate or a spectator?"

"A spectator, I think. She wasn't wearing a cap and gown."

"Okay. Anything else?"

"No."

"What about Ben? Was he scheduled to be at any meetings, or was he scheduled to take some vacation time?"

"He was scheduled to take some vacation time. However, he didn't show up at the cottage that he was planning on staying in."

"How do you know?"

"I already checked there."

"Okay. If you could send us his schedule, we'll see if he pops out of the woodwork so that we can tell you where to find him. What do you want us to do with the information when we get it?"

"Let me know. I'll have an internal team come and pick the two of them up."

"But you don't know if the woman is involved."

"That's true. I'll have to interrogate her. Don't worry. I have a great interrogation specialist on staff. He can get information from a stone."

"Interesting. I never thought forced interrogation worked. People tend to say whatever they think will stop the pain, no matter if it is true or not."

"That can be a slight problem. That's why it is so important to use the services of an interrogation specialist, someone who is trained to get the truth. It's amazing what knives can do."

I could feel the blood drain from my face, and Kai jumped up. "Stop the recording", he said. He jumped over to me and sat on the sofa beside me. He picked up my hand and started to massage it. "Close your eyes for a moment, Steph", he said quietly. "Take deep breaths. You are safe here. You have a whole strike team, plus Hal, plus Ranger, plus the Gurus, plus me, and above all that you have the She-Devils. You're covered." He took my pulse and didn't look very happy.

I shuddered in a breath as I shook. "Kai? I don't want to be interrogated."

"You're not going to be. You are safe, Steph. There is a reason I am staying with you and if I'm not there then Grant is with you and if we aren't there, Ranger is with you. You may think it is to entertain you with my scintillating conversation, but it is instead to protect you and take care of you medically. We'll make sure that you aren't taken from the castle and that you are safe."

I was struggling to get air in. "Kai? I want to go upstairs."

"Okay." He stood and picked me up.

"I'm sorry, everybody. I'm not so tough after all."

"Take it easy, Steph", said Miguel. I looked at the Gurus, and they all looked tortured. I then looked at Ranger. He looked positively shattered.

Tears flowed down my face, and Kai quickly carried me up the stairs. I buried my face in his shoulder and soaked his shirt with my tears. I was shaking so hard I wasn't even sure how he was holding onto me. He carried me into the bedroom, shut the door, and laid me on the mattress, filled a syringe, pulled down the shoulder of my sweater, disinfected a spot, and stuck the needle in me. "You'll feel better in a few minutes", he said.

"What did you give me?"

"A mild sedative. You are far too upset, and your heart rate is far too high."

"I made everybody feel bad."

"It's not your fault."

"Normally, it wouldn't have bothered me."

"Things are a little different right now, and that's okay. It's alright for things to bother you. Just know that, when you become more mobile, it won't bother you as much again."

"Ranger said that interrogation causes pain."

"Yes."

"I don't think I can take any more pain. I mean, all they'd have to do is touch my burns and I'd be blubbering like a baby. Apply any pressure and I would tell them anything."

"They aren't going to get you, Steph." He put his hand on my chest. "Concentrate on moving my hand up and down. Don't purposely think about anything else and, when thoughts come into your head, let them flow in and flow out again, without hanging on to them. When your attention wanders, bring it back to moving my hand up and down." He was silent for several moments. After a bit, he said quietly, "how are you feeling?"

"Mellow. Sleepy."

"It's okay to go to sleep. I'll be in the room with you, and I'll protect you."

"Kai? Thank you."

Ranger crept into the room. "Can I talk to Steph?"

"You have about two minutes before she falls asleep."

Ranger sat on the side of the bed. "I'm sorry, babe. Do you want to know what was said afterwards?"

"Ranger!" said Kai.

Ranger shook his head.

"I said our interrogation team was top-notch and I offered to do the interrogation for them. I personally like to interrogate by kisses. I didn't tell him that part."

"Are you?"

"Yes. He took us up on our offer and now I am doing the interrogation for them."

"Don't hurt me", I said. I started crying again.

Ranger dried my face with his thumb. I looked at him, and he looked pulverized by my fear. "Babe, I could never hurt you."

I shuddered in a breath and tried to stop my eyes from crossing. "Kai", I whimpered.

Kai put his hand on Ranger's shoulder and told him to go and sit on the window seat. As Ranger moved, I could hear Ranger sob. I looked at Kai, his face doubling and tripling in my vision. "He's not going to interrogate you, Steph. Ranger loves you."

"Promise?"

"That he won't interrogate you? Yes. It would kill Ranger to have to do that. Or promise that Ranger loves you? He breathes for you, Steph. He is crying right now because you are upset. Yes, he loves you more than anybody or anything else in the world." I shuddered in another breath. "Close your eyes, Steph. Go to sleep, and let Ranger kiss you goodnight." He gestured to Ranger, and as Ranger came forward and I closed my eyes, he kissed my forehead.

Kai turned to Ranger. "She's not quite out but she is drifting in a safe place, a place that will let her reduce her heart rate and eventually fall asleep."

Ranger shuddered in a breath. "What happened? That isn't the kind of thing to bother Steph."

"Yes, when she has a chance at protecting herself. Ranger, she is in agony. And to have someone talk about causing more pain when she figures that she is at the top of her pain tolerance? She lost it and she was hating herself for letting it bother her in the first place and then not hiding her upset and making everybody else upset. We came upstairs and she could hardly breathe. She was hyperventilating badly and her nails were turning blue again. I gave her a sedative. However, it had set in enough that things were confusing and a little garbled when you came up, and you said that you were going to interrogate her. And she immediately responded with fear again. She didn't hear the part that you were going to interrogate her with kisses. She just heard that you were going to interrogate her."

"And she panicked."

"She was saying that things were going well, but I'm not sure how much of this is Steph telling us – and herself – that it is going well to convince herself that things are healing. After I gave her the sedative, she said that she was scared because all they would have to do was touch her and she would be in tears, and apply some pressure to her legs and she would reveal the state secrets. It makes me think that she's not as healed as she would like everyone to think. The next pain reliever I give her will be morphine."

"When is it due?"

"Another three hours."

"When will she wake up from the sedative?"

"Probably about the same time."

"Do you want me to sit with her?"

"No offense, Ranger, but I'm not leaving her side for the next four hours. I promised that I would be here when she woke up and although she might not remember me making that promise, she needs to feel safe right now, and I think on some fundamental level she would recognize that I kept my promise. I just found out today that she thought she was going to lose her legs and people just were afraid to tell her. She is putting on a good front, but she is terrified. That is quite normal with severe burns but, because she's been hiding it and I didn't know, I haven't been treating her for it. I spent some time this morning telling her exactly what was going on, and I think that was a good thing. But she is scared, and that is perfectly understandable. We've just got to get her talking about it more."

Ranger shuddered in a breath. "Is she going to be scared to see me?"

"I doubt it. When she wakes up, she will be awake and relaxed. However, she will have all her faculties as well. She knows that you would never hurt her. She trusts you to take care of her and keep her safe. But hearing that they were going to use knives on her when she was already in pain? She's already at the top of her tolerance level – her tolerance of pain, her tolerance of fear – and it was a little more than she could handle. When she wakes up, let her bring up the topic and, when you talk to her about it, emphasize that you are going to protect her, that you offered to question her so that she was safe and unharmed. Don't use the word 'interrogate'. That seems to be a trigger for her. Tell her all the things that you are doing to keep her safe, and remember that she doesn't feel safe because she knows they are after her and for her to protect herself will cause great pain and maybe permanent disability. Remember that she is incredibly scared, and that is natural, when you think about it. It is also something that most, if not all, burn victims suffer from."

"Do you mind if I sit with you for a while?"

Kai smiled. "Not at all. Why don't you send a note to the Gurus telling them that Steph will be okay, and that you need them to look after the kids at lunch?"