Chapter 45

"Babe, get your mask on quickly"

I managed to do that but only because Carlos was holding me afloat. As soon as it was in place, he pushed the mouthpiece into my mouth and started to pull me down into the water. At the sight of what looked like a boot slowly sinking next to me I was breathing far too quickly. I closed my eyes not wanting to even imagine what I was seeing and then felt Carlos in front of me, a hand on either side of my face. Then his hand was over my chest pressing and releasing which I focused on trying to get my breathing to slow down. What the hell had just happened? Had the boat blown up? Why the hell would that happen?

I wasn't sure how Carlos managed to move us. My eyes were still squeezed tightly shut, so I wasn't aware of where we were going until I felt my flippers hitting something. Carlos moved his hands down my body to my feet and suddenly my feet were touching the soft sand. It was only then that I even dared to try and open my eyes which seeing as my mask had water in and it seemed to be steamed up didn't really help. At least I felt more in control as I literally walked through the water. As soon as I felt the air on my face the mask came off and the breather was spit out. The beach, we were on the beach, on solid land which gave me the incentive to move forward faster. Bad move because as soon as my chest rose above the gentle surging of the waves I was falling flat on my back.

One of the men who had been watching the car was suddenly in the water with me, lifting me up by my back and taking the weight of the tanks while I coughed and spluttered the water from my mouth. The other man was undoing the belts around me, so I was soon knelt down on the beach trying to absorb what the hell had just happened.

"The car?"

I heard Carlos shout out.

"No one has been anywhere near it"

I looked up, now breathing slower, and looked over to where Carlos was just lowering his tanks to the sand. He looked absolutely furious which had me turning around to look back out to sea. There was no boat, only floating wood and debris on the surface of the water.

"The crew?"

I asked, hoping for some good news but knowing that they probably hadn't stood a chance. I knew what was going to be said as Carlos walked over to me and squatted down in front of me.

"They couldn't have survived that Babe"

Even I knew that it hadn't been accident. Someone had planted a bomb on board but who could it have been and who was it intended for? I felt Ranger's hands skimming over my body so knew that he was checking for any injuries but I assured him that I was fine and proceeded to do the same to him. I needed the contact just to be sure that he was there and that he was okay as well. As Carlos rose, he pulled me to my feet, wrapping a towel around me before he led me over to the truck that Koa and Bane had been driving. I suppose their truck might be safer than being in the sports car.

"We'll deal with the police"

Was all that I heard as the truck door closed. I was quiet as Carlos drove, probably from the shock of what had happened. We were here on our honeymoon for heavens sake, couldn't the bad guys give us a break? I must have looked miserable because I felt my hand being taken and squeezed.

"What about our cabana, will it be safe going back there?"

Seemed I'd said the wrong thing because that wasn't where we were headed for. I never did get an answer until I started to see the signs for the airport and came to the conclusion that we were leaving the island. I looked down at the towel around me, the only thing that I was wearing, okay I had a wet bikini on underneath. I was hoping that there would be a good clothes shop at the airport but then wondered how we could possibly pay for anything. I suppose I should have considered that we'd flown here on a private jet but as we passed through what looked like a security barrier and pulled into a large concrete area it was obvious that there wasn't a jet that was waiting for us, and I certainly didn't recognize anything familiar about the place. A sign was confusing me and so were the people who were walking around. Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam had the hair on my arms rising.

"I've called in a favor"

A favor, he called this a favor. I was dressed in a towel in the middle of an army base. I didn't dare say anything as we waited in the stationary truck because I sense that Carlos was only just containing the supressed rage inside of him. I knew that he'd feel responsible for what had just happened but it really wasn't his fault. We both sat there in silence and watched as a female soldier made a beeline for us. She was dressed in the usual uniform but with the way that she had her hair was pulled back under a cap and the dark sunglasses over her eyes it was difficult to put an age on her. Then I saw her smile and suddenly knew that it was aimed at Carlos. Carlos wound the window down, so she casually leant against the truck giving me the once over before turning her attention to Carlos. Was she flirting with him? Didn't she realize that he had a wife now?

"Manoso, long time no see. Logan gave me a shout and gave me the heads up of what happened, lucky for you I'm taking my girl out"

I watched as she pushed a plastic bag through the window and gave me another look before her hand rested on his arm.

"Logan said you and the other passenger would need some clothes"

I was just another passenger now? Why would Logan not say who I was? Or did being Carlos's wife make a difference to us getting out of here? Shit, I didn't like her already. As soon she walked away from us, I was pulling on a beige shirt and a pair of combat trousers over the top of my bikini. Carlos had already pulled on a similar outfit and was helping me by fastening the buttons up on the shirt.

"Ready to fly Babe?"

Not really but what choice did I have? As we stood by the truck, I couldn't help but look at all of the men in uniform walking around then turned and looked at Carlos. The way that he was looking at me had a tingle go right through my body.

"You look so sexy in a uniform"

He'd just repeated the exact same words that I was thinking to myself. So feeling a little bit brazen, or maybe it was a reaction to what had happened to us, I stepped closer to him and looked him up and down.

"Maybe we should keep these because I was thinking the same and how much fun it would be to strip that uniform off you"

As I said that he leant in close to me and kissed me on my neck. Then I felt him tense and we turned to watch as the woman came back now dressed in a camouflage jacket, vest and wearing a helmet.

"Moll's one of the best pilots that I've come across. She's agreed to take us over to the mainland"

Even as we started to follow Moll numbers were whizzing through my head and to me they just didn't add up.

"What the hell does she fly?"

Having visions of some supersonic jet come into my mind.

"She pilots helicopters and is testing out a Lockheed Cheyenne"

"But its too far, we'll run out of fuel"

Come on everyone knew that didn't they, hadn't they watched Black Widow and seen the helicopter running out of fuel and crash into the countryside? Moll must have been listening to me because she laughed as she turned around.

"Yeah, but they weren't flying a Lockheed AH-56A Cheyenne"

I could see where we were heading for now and I had to admit to liking the look of the sleek green bird sat in front of us. The problem to me was what looked like a really small cockpit.

"It was commissioned as this state of the art fighting machine but then the powers to be decided we didn't need them. But they have one hell of a range to them so we're trying to make the best of them"

We'd arrived at the helicopter, and I watched as Carlos started to climb up the ladder at the front, but he stopped at the top and gave me a quizzical look.

"It's going to be a tight squeeze Babe"

Couldn't this Moll just have been an ordinary pilot and flown a proper airplane? I climbed the ladder and looked inside what looked like a spaceship, with lots of electronic equipment. By sitting sideways, I managed to get somewhere comfortable before the glass covering us dropped into place. I felt earphones come over my head and then tried to relax. My god it was worse than being on a ride at Point Pleasant, the noise of the engines and the acceleration had me shrinking against Carlos. I looked back to see Moll sat behind us and her giving me the thumbs up before I settled to watch what was below us. The problem was that we were flying so damn fast, apparently at 220 mph that all too soon there was only water below us. As a consequence, I was soon asleep.

I dozed, I looked out at the view but tried really hard not to fidget. By the time that we landed on solid ground I was sure that I'd lost feeling in my legs and hearing from my ears. Moving was a major problem and trying to climb down the ladder was impossible. If it hadn't been for the young soldier who lifted me down and then held me up, I would have been a puddle on the floor.

"Up you get and stretch those muscles"

Yeah right, Batman. How come he looked so comfortable?

"Girl you did good. I was expecting to hear a lot of screaming and complaining. You okay from here Manoso?"

Carlos had his hand around my waist as I stretched out one foot in front of the other and I was dreading what our next mode of transport would be.

"Thanks Moll, I owe you. If you ever want a job just let me know"

Did Rangeman really need a helicopter pilot? Okay I was feeling really bitchy.

"Where exactly are we?"

Because I had no idea and could only assume that we back on the mainland.

"San Diego. It'll take 6 hours to fly back to Trenton, the jet's waiting for us at the private airport"

I found walking okay now as we ambled over towards some buildings and okay even though the flight over here had been an experience it didn't stop me from remembering what had happened on that boat in Hawaii. Shit maybe Hawaii wasn't such a good place for us. I mean the first time Morelli had shown up and now we'd nearly been blown up.

"Lula and Hal, are they okay?"

Suddenly came to me making me feel really guilty for not thinking of them before now, because they could have been in danger just by knowing us.

"They're fine. Koa and Bane are keeping an eye on them, and they know not to leave the resort"

I didn't think doing that would be a hardship for Lula, hell I didn't think that she'd left their cabana while we were there.

"Babe we'll talk on the plane, maybe one of the men will have something to report"

A taxi trip later we were sat on the jet. I almost refused to sit down until I was very politely told by Bobby that we couldn't take off until I did. All bets were off once the seat belt sign went off and I found a section of the floor where I could stretch, bend, extend and twist. I hadn't had any problem with my hip in an age but now it ached.

"Steph, Ranger said that the trip over was long and confined. Turn over, and let me try and massage your leg muscles"

That was what I did, with my arms stretched above my head I was almost moaning as Bobby started to knead the muscles of my thighs, then all of a sudden, he stopped. I turned my head to see what was wrong and noticed that Bobby was staring at my hands. I didn't think that they looked that bad now.

"I think that maybe Ranger should be doing this"

What, why? I relaxed again when I felt hands moving up and down my legs, hands that I knew very well.

"Is it your hip?"

I nodded my head as he lifted my leg and pulled on it and then as his knuckles dug deep into my buttocks.

"Your muscles are tight Babe"

I knew that and to be honest there was only one thing that I knew of that would have them relaxing. I felt a slap on my backside and a soft whisper "Later" Propping my head up I could see the men all sat together now so I decided that was where I needed to be. I sat down next to Carlos as Les began to tell us what he'd found out.

"Koa checked out all of the cameras at the resort but found no one who shouldn't have been there. He checked out the staff and one of the girls on reception said that she'd taken a call asking to speak to you, Carlos Manoso. She said that you were unavailable and had an outing booked for the next day"

Damn, which meant that someone knew where we were staying. I wondered if they'd called every high end resort on the island until they came across the answer that they were looking for.

"Hector?"

"Call went in via mobile but originated in the States. Can't get an accurate location and it's a number that we don't recognise"

I was looking back to Les as he continued what he knew and was soon seeing a theme develop.

"Bane did recon on the company you hired for the scuba diving. Unfortunately, anyone who broke in there would know their calendar and who was due to go out and when. He spoke to the young lad who helped out in the office and the kid remembered someone calling the day before saying that his sister and boyfriend were due to go out, but he couldn't remember when. You were the only private charter that week the rest were all groups"

I looked at Carlos and frowned surprised that he would book something under his own name, okay the resort made you produce some id and I suppose he felt, like I did, that no one would ever trace us to there.

"I used the name Marco, one expert male and one novice female"

He responded as though he knew what I was thinking. So how had they made the connection between the resort and the diving boat?

"Bane thinks that a device was slipped onto the boat that morning, which was why there was no fire"

Someone knew where we would be and worked out that we'd be going scuba diving. But why would someone want us killed?

"Any movement on our targets Tank?"

"No. Nothing. As you said most have died and no relatives or generals are making any noises. It's been a while since you upset people like that. Hell, most of your more recent missions have been to retrieve hostages from petty dirtbags"

I schooled my face carefully not to look surprised. That was everything that I had ever heard about what Carlos did when he'd gone into the wind. There was only one person that I had ever come across who disliked Carlos, well that I knew of.

"Usman"

I hadn't meant to say that out loud and realized my mistake as soon as everyone looked at me.

"Beautiful he only does jobs for money"

"But she's right to mention him. Whoever planted that device was a pro"

I had no idea about that because to me an explosion was just that. How did they know it was done by a pro?

"Jeffe, the call that went to the boat company is the same number that called the resort"

So maybe two men then because getting to Hawaii would take time and I was pretty sure that the guys would have checked the names of passengers arriving and leaving the island. One man who worked out where we would be and one who planted the explosive. That had another thought come into my mind, one I didn't like but it needed to be explored.

"Did Lula know that we would be there?"

I watched as Carlos looked to Les so assumed that he'd been the one to liaise between Rangeman, Hal and Lula. As soon as Les was asked the question I could see the expression on his face change as though he knew exactly how the information on our destination had been leaked.

"I told Hal to tell her that he was taking her there as a holiday"

Which meant that if Lula knew where she was going then so did Connie and anyone who was interested in listening to that piece of gossip.

"They assumed that I'd be there because of Lula"

Which also meant that it was someone from Trenton and that was where we were heading for, I had an awful feeling that someone was after me, but why? What the hell did I know that would have someone so worried that killing me was the only option? It had happened again. Two men were dead because of me, and Carlos could have been killed as well. I stood up from where I'd been sat next to Carlos and Les and went to the chairs at the back of the plane to think things through.

Could I just disappear so that everyone would be safe? That hadn't worked out so well before when I'd ended up meeting Jenson, so what else could I do? Those dark thoughts started to tumble through my mind. If Lula hadn't have stopped me or Jenson hadn't have followed me then none of this would have happened.

"Don't even go there, Babe. I can see it in your eyes. I know that you're hurting but you are not responsible for the actions of others. Besides it could be someone after me"

I didn't think so, but I wasn't going to say that to him. I just knew that the explosion was because of me.

"We do what we do best Babe, we work through this and find the solution"

I knew that he was probably right, but I was tired of things always happening around me or was it as Carlos had said that it was fate. I had no idea but if it was fate then I didn't like her very much at the moment.

We arrived back to a cold and wet Trenton in the dark yet again. The weather suited my mood though as we travelled through the streets of Trenton. I hadn't slept on the plane, maybe there was too much going through my head to do that. What was that you might ask, well it looked like I'd be back in that conference room again trying to find something that would give me a clue as to who exactly was after me. Going up in the elevator I was surprised that the other men were in it as well and actually worried what the weight capacity was. I mean having Tank, Ranger, Bobby and Les with little old me seemed unusual.

The elevator stopped on five, but I didn't get an option of staying inside to go up to seven. The mass of bodies just ended up moving me out in front of them. That was when I realized that it was really dark and quiet on the corridor until all of a sudden, the lights came on and the cheering started. I think that I was in shock as I stared at the streamers hanging across the hallway. Congratulations seemed to be the theme with wedding bells as decorations. I was passed from one man to the next and received hugs and kisses until I was ushered into one of the larger conference rooms. Carlos was behind me, but I was sure if he was actually as shocked as I had been with our reception.

"Did you tell them?"

I asked just to be sure that I didn't say something that would upset him. He shook his head and looked over to Bobby who was stood with a glass in his hand raised towards us. That was when I knew why he had stopped giving me a massage on the plane, not because he was worried what Ranger might say to him, but because he'd seen my rings.

"Gentlemen and Ella. A toast to Ranger and Steph who eventually found each other. Mr and Mrs. Manoso"

I heard the glasses as they were knocked together and the voices as they repeated our names and then watched as a white cloth was removed from one of the tables. My eye caught Ella because I knew that it would have been her who was responsible for the array of food laid out and especially the tall cake placed in the center.

"I am so happy for you. I knew in the end he would see what was in front of him"

"Thank you Ella. The food looks amazing"

I was led to the table and given a plate realizing that everyone was waiting until I'd filled my plate before they could help themselves. I spent my time wandering between the men, chatting and laughing. They really helped to lift my spirits because I knew that the people here were my family.

"Annie you're back. I hear we have some investigating to do though"

I turned into Xander's arms and accepted his hug and allowed him to lift my left hand up to scrutinize my rings.

"You're a very lucky woman Annie, to have found your soulmate"

There was a little melancholy with that, but it disappeared as quickly as it came making my heart go out to Xander for the loss of his true love. Carlos seemed comfortable talking with the men but every time I looked to see where he was, he was watching me. Eventually when I was sure that any men had been here after their shift had ended, I went and linked my arm though Carlos's. He knew that I wanted to leave now, and I was pretty sure that he did as well, so after saying goodnight we were soon in the elevator heading up stairs to seven. By the time we made it to the door of the apartment my shirt buttons had been undone and Carlos had almost inched my cargos from my hips. I was lifted up into his arms as he unlocked the door then kicked it open. Me, I was so intent on kissing his face and neck while trying to undo his buttons that I gave up and just ripped at the shirt sending buttons flying everywhere.

When he suddenly stilled, I was worried that maybe I shouldn't have torn the shirt and looked into the apartment as he slowly lowered me to my feet. The scene of what looked like hundreds of balloons had a giggle slowly erupt from me. Someone had managed to fill the entire floor with them. Carlos decided to ignore them and okay I was trying my best to distract him but the sight of them on the bed just seemed too much for him. As I sat on the bed, balloons wafting around me, he got hold of one and one movement of his hand squeezed it until it there was a large popping sound. Sheesh, I hoped that he wasn't going to spend any time doing that to the rest of them. What I didn't expect was to have tiny bits of glitter rain down and over me.

"I'm going to kill someone for this little stunt"

"Maybe, but in the morning"

Was all that I said as I pulled him down on top of me.