Chapter 33

Bobby had his hands on my shoulders and moved me forward so that I had a better view of the screens and pointed to the view of an empty room. I watched as the three men walked inside and took seats at the back of the room around the oval table and then waited for what would happen next. To me Ranger looked relaxed as he sat back in his chair, his ankle propped over his other knee, but I knew better. Tank, well he was sat up with a straight back and his arms crossed over his chest, certainly the most formidable looking of the three. Les was lent forward with his arms on the table as though he wasn't worried, but I would guess that the three of them had taken those postures on purpose.

The door opened and closed quickly as the man from reception stepped into the room, his eyes glancing quickly around him before his eyes settled on Ranger. He pulled out a chair, away from the table and sat down, his posture more relaxed than it had been.

"Why are you here Usman?"

So Ranger did know this man and from what I'd already witnessed he didn't like him one bit.

"I have no argument with you Ranger. I'm here on behalf of my employer"

He might not have an argument with Ranger but from how Ranger looked at him I wasn't too sure that was true from Ranger's point of view.

"I don't appreciate you being here, not after the shit that you pulled when I last saw you. You were responsible for the deaths of two good men, men who didn't deserve die and two young boys who were totally innocent"

I assumed that this man Usman was someone that Ranger had worked with either when he was in the army or when he did those jobs when he went into the wind. What the hell had Usman done that had got those people killed?

"That is in the past and I won't discuss my actions from that mission. I'm here to ask if you are harboring a woman who has gone missing"

Involuntarily I took a step back, finding myself stood up against Bobby. It was as if I felt that Usman could look through the cameras and see me.

"Woman. Why would I be harboring a missing woman?"

Usman must be stupid if he thought that Ranger would give him a straight answer and it was interesting to listen as Ranger threw a question back at him.

"My employer needs to talk to a woman, named Chloe, who seems to have disappeared. He stupidly sent two amateurs to Chicago and probably frightened her into running. We tracked down the man that she was with here to Trenton but came face to face with your men. So, I ask again are you harboring this woman?"

I could feel my heartbeat increasing as I realized that those men had tracked me here to Rangeman and I was worried what his employer wanted with me.

"No, I don't know anything about a woman named Chloe. The man that you tracked and beat up, was here as part of collaborative work with another company. I understand from him that a woman who was on the same bus as him was grabbed off the street in Chicago. What interest does your employer have with her?"

Ranger was walking a precarious line with this man, Usman. I knew that he would never give anything away about me or admit that he knew who this mysterious Chloe was, but I also knew that this was an opportunity to glean as much information as possible.

"So you are telling me that this woman isn't being protected by you?"

Ranger leant forward now, his elbows on the tables as he looked directly at Usman.

"Usman, I've already given you the answer to that so if that's all that you're here for then this meeting is over"

Ranger stood up quickly with Tank and Les mirroring his movement and Cal appeared at an open door behind Usman. Nothing else was said as Usman left the room, and it wasn't long before I heard the stairwell door slam open. I turned expecting to see Ranger coming through it, but it was Tank and Les who made their exit and were quickly walking into Tank's office.

"Where did Ranger go?"

I asked of no one in particular, surprised when Manny pointed to another screen. He gave me a moment to recognize that he was showing me a view of the gym before he turned the screen off. Everyone was moving away, returning to their work so I debated what I should do. Maybe it was a stupid idea, but I ended up stood outside the gym doors. I pushed one door slightly open, hearing a thumping sound coming out and took a step through the door. I could see Ranger in front of a punching bag. He'd removed his top giving me a view of his sweat soaked skin and the tension of his muscles as he continued to use his fists.

Did I approach him, or did I let him work through his anger? I wasn't an expert on that so I went with what I would want to happen. When I was a kid, I would feel so annoyed with my mother and how she would never listen to my side of the story when something bad had happened. One of those times was when it had been Val who hadn't flushed the toilet. That was the first and last time that I shouted back at my mother. The slap across my face stopped me immediately and I knew that she would never listen to me. So after that when I got so annoyed that I felt like screaming, shouting and stomping my feet I would go to grandma's. Grandma would always listen to me, never making a judgement, then she would just hold me.

With that on my mind I walked around the gym and came up behind the bag and very cautiously held it. I wasn't sure if Ranger had seen me or if he was in some sort of red haze so I started to talk softly hoping that maybe he'd start to listen to me.

"There was this time when I was playing on my bike with Lou on the street. It had been raining and it was so much fun to ride through the puddles and lift your legs up. Well, everything would have been fine if some boys hadn't started to throw stones into the puddles. Not only did I get splashed but my tire caught on one of the stones, so I ended up falling off my bike and got very wet and muddy. My jeans were ripped, and my hands were grazed, and I was crying but all my mother could do was drag me inside and say that it was all my own fault. I was so mad with her, especially when she grounded me for the rest of the weekend. So I went to see grandma. My grandma would always listen to me and hear my side of the story. Just doing that made me feel so much calmer and then she would hug me and"

Okay, so maybe I got carried away reminiscing about my story and maybe I didn't notice that Ranger had stopped thumping the bag, but I noticed when he suddenly stepped in front of me. Uh oh, I needed to say something and quickly.

"So what I learnt from that was when you get really mad then you need to talk to someone and get a hug"

I smiled sweetly before biting my lip and looking down at my feet. I suppose I'd stopped him from beating the shit out of the bag, but I wasn't too sure how.

"How about a hug first and then I'll tell you about Usman"

At least the cameras had been turned off because what started as a hug soon moved on to a mind numbing kiss. It was Ranger tensing that brought me back to where we were and as I looked over Ranger's shoulder it was to see Tank, Les and Bobby walking towards us. Ranger turned with me pulled into his side to face the three men.

"We came down to make sure that you didn't hurt yourself"

Came as the excuse from Tank and maybe they had because Bobby sure looked worried. Les though, he had that look on his face as he wiggled his eyebrows at me, like he knew something that the other two didn't. Ranger must have caught on to what I was thinking because his one word "Santos" had the smirk on Les's face disappearing.

"Meeting in twenty"

I suppose that was better than hitting the punching bag and maybe I'd find out the story behind Usman because I was sure that him turning up was the reason for Ranger being so annoyed. As Ranger walked into the changing rooms, I followed the three men up the stairs on the premise that if I stayed with them then I'd be there for the meeting as well. True to his word Ranger was prompt and we were soon sat around the table in his office, and no one questioned why I was there. I just wanted to know what was going on so sat back with the intention of listening. As Ranger asked the questions it was Les who seemed to have the answers.

"Any ideas on who is employing him?"

"Yeah, I pulled up the research that I'd done on the jerk who ambushed Xander, and I'd say that Usman probably works for the same outfit, Zeneman"

"Do we know anything about them?"

"From the research on them Zeneman has about twenty men on the books and about ten contractors depending on the jobs that he has. Some of the men who work for him are descent sorts, but most are soldiers who have never found a place in society, and then there are those who see themselves still as soldiers even though they may have been dishonorably discharged. Zeneman's driven by money, takes on dirty jobs or those that suit him at the time, not always legal"

A mercenary group with no morals then? What surprised me was why this man had taken on the task of finding Chloe.

"Is finding someone a usual job for them?"

I asked hoping that my question didn't sound too stupid.

"No. The men he has working for him can be hard and cold. Hell, Usman is a prime example of that"

I saw the look that Ranger gave Tank as he said that and discerned from the look that Ranger had had an issue over trusting Usman. I really needed to find out what was behind that. My mind went back to the subject that we were talking about, and I realized that I'd missed hearing something that Les had said.

"You follow that up Santos. Greg has had no success with anyone following Xander so maybe we need to lead a false trail"

"I can have an appointment set up for a Chloe at one of the hospitals in Detroit"

Ranger nodded at Bobby's idea, but I knew it was only a matter of time before they worked out exactly who Chloe actually was. I was more interested in why this man Zeneman would take on a job that was outside of his normal remit. Okay, there would have to be a lot of money on offer, but I just had a feeling that there was more to it than that.

"How easy would it be to do a search on Zeneman?"

I saw the look that Les gave to Ranger when I asked that so I really wasn't sure if they didn't want me to do one because of what I'd find out or whether it would raise an alarm that would lead right back to here.

"What are you thinking Babe?"

"Well when you described Zeneman and the jobs that he normally did it just seems so out character for him to have taken on this job"

I watched as Ranger sat back in his chair and as he obviously thought through what I'd said.

"You think he's doing this for someone that he knows?"

I raised my eyebrows at Ranger, pleased that he'd cottoned on to what I was thinking but was then sat waiting for what else would be said that would make that difficult.

"I can get you his background information through another source because I'm sure that he'll have alerts set up for anyone looking at him and will probably be able to trace it back to the origin"

I didn't think that would be the problem. Hell, having Usman burst in here meant that we already knew that his company was involved. The problem would be that there would be nothing to find, or it would be filled with false information, like someone else I knew. A parking lot as a place of residence for Ranger had certainly curtailed any searches that Connie, Lula and I had tried to do on him. I nodded my head acknowledging what he was saying but hoping that he'd have that information quickly.

"The man on the roof watching us?"

"Change of person but I'd say that they are digging in over there. If we move them then that makes us suspicious"

Which meant that me getting out of the building was going to be very difficult. I was glad when the men left me alone with Ranger, maybe they sensed that Ranger might want to talk to me or maybe me trying to stare at Les, you know seeing if I had a chance of ESP, told him that I wanted to be on my own with Ranger. Anyway, as soon as they had left, I dragged Ranger by his hand toward the leather couch and made him sit down next to me.

"Okay, you got your hug but now you have to tell me the story that goes with it"

He knew that I wouldn't let it go and he actually went through the motions of delaying it. You know, leaning back and closing his eyes, rubbing his hands down his face until eventually he sat forward with his elbows on his knees.

"I was asked to take a team down to South America. I had four good men and Usman with me. Usman and two other soldiers went round to the rear of the target while Tank myself and Santos were heading for the front. Usman decided to do some recon on his own and must have come across some civilians but instead of staying clear of them he went in and killed them. Two boys tending goats. It alerted the enemy guards, and the two soldiers with him were captured. Usman disappeared so we tried to get our men out. Those men were dead when we found them, and the mission was FUBAR. Usman, the bastard was waiting for us at the pickup point with some crap explanation. I always ask myself what if I'd been the one to take lead to assault from the rear of the property. Would those two boys and our men still be alive"

I folded my arms around him as he sat there, his pain emanating from him. He was a strong man, and I knew how hard it must have been to be betrayed by someone like that.

"You didn't know so you can't carry those regrets. Usman is not you. He is the one who should be carrying the guilt, not you"

I didn't know what else to say that would make sense to him but knew that it would take more than just my words for him to come to terms with those two boys dying and the deaths of the two soldiers. We stayed like for what seemed like ages before Ranger gave me a quick squeeze before standing up.

"I'll get that information for you"

Meant that I was being asked to leave. I had no idea how he would do that and wasn't going to ask, no doubt he still had contacts within the military. I went through to the conference room where all of my notes were, trying to remember where I'd got to last when it occurred to me that we'd been looking at those files that I'd downloaded onto the pen drive. Going back upstairs to the apartment I was soon reading through that open file.

I decided to look at the remaining unopened ones just in case there was something else that concerned Chiconi when I noticed something that seemed strange. I ended up opening various files, going to the signature at the end of each document to discover that the signature for Jenson on the Chiconi file wasn't quite the same. Jenson had a way of flourishing the J and the W which made me wonder if Jenson had actually signed the document. Like the others his name appeared at the beginning as the acting lawyer so maybe that file had been bundled in with the rest as belonging to Jenson. Which could mean that Jenson didn't even know that he'd had possession of it.

I transferred that file onto the desktop and then deleted it from the pen drive, making sure that there was nothing to show that there had been another file on it. That way I could maybe send the drive to Jenson so that he would have a record of what I'd done. Instead, I did something totally unlike me. I set up one those file share accounts and uploaded all of the files and then sent an email to Xander giving the password for the account and asking him to get copies of the files to Jenson. My heart fell though, when I realized that the only two people who might have been looking for that file had to be Anya or Robert and then was wondering who had told them to look for it. Could it have been Anya's mother or someone I was yet to come across, maybe this client of Zeneman? Maybe someone who had known Trevor and he had told them what his secret was?

After closing down the computer I decided that I definitely needed something to eat and it seemed that Ranger wasn't going to be coming upstairs. Down on five the breakroom was empty so grabbing a sandwich and a bottle of water I headed to the conference room. Ranger's office door was closed, and I wasn't going to disturb him, so I found myself eating my sandwich as I stood in front of the board reading through grandma's last message to me.

"Hi there Baby girl, ah crap, I hate leaving a message. Okay, it wasn't what I thought, though he had a nice package, well for his age. It's safe until I'm sure you are. Hell, I aint making sense. I gotta go and well I took your car. It's my mess to sort, not yours. It was when . . . an accident, I didn't know. Now he's mad. I'll explain when I"

It made more sense now knowing what I did but where she had hidden that tie pin was still eluding me. Where would grandma go if she had something that she needed to figure out? She certainly wouldn't talk to my parents. I also doubted that she'd tell any of her friends about the trouble that she'd found herself in. She hadn't spoken to me, except for this message so where would she go to hide it that she felt was safe?

I was once more interrupted by the door opening and watched as Les came into the room and stood next to me.

"There's a lawyer downstairs asking if you are here. No one confirmed it but we said we'd ask someone if they knew of your location. He said he was looking for you because he needed to finalize the last instructions from your grandmother's will"