When I woke up it was bedtime. I looked at Grant. "Something tells me that you were dosing me with a painkiller for the majority of the day."

Grant smiled. "You needed the sleep, Steph."

"Have you changed the dressings?"

"I did. You're now about seventy percent improved. You're doing an amazing job."

I smiled. "Thank God."

Grant grinned. "Were you saying 'thank God' because the dressings change was done, or because you are healing so well?"

I paused and thought. "Probably both", I said.

He laughed. "I'm happy too, and Ranger looks incredibly relieved."

"I'm even happier about that. I hate it when Ranger worries, and he worries about so much."

"I never knew everything about Ranger before."

"Most people don't. The Executive team does, and the Gurus do, and Julie and Kai know. But that's about it. He keeps it really close to his chest, partly because knowledge of his location would put him at risk but more importantly to Ranger, it would put me and the babies at risk. And having said that, Nick knew part of it since he was on Ranger's team overseas. He's a sniper and is, in fact, the best sniper in the US. Because of PTSD, he was really happy to get out. But the whole story? The Gurus just found out about six months ago. Otherwise, Tank knew for forever. Ranger and Tank are best friends and have been for years. He was someone that Ranger and Nick had rescued from being tortured, and Ranger carried him out. The retreat took three days and Ranger carried him the whole time. That kind of experience forges friendships that last for eternity. Ranger had told Hal and Nate, and Joe and Tracy know the whole story and helped us pick out his new name the last time he changed it. Nate knows his true name for tax purposes and incorporation documents. Tank knows his true name as well, but I don't think Hal knows."

"What is his true name?"

I smiled. "That's a closely guarded secret. Just like my true name. I changed mine with the WITSEC program as well to hide my location. Like Ranger, it wasn't our former identities that we were keeping secret – it is our new identities so that any formal identification is in our new identities. There aren't too many people from the outside who would be able to unravel our identities. Even our parents and siblings don't know our true identities. Only Ranger and Nate and Tank and Joe and Tracy know my legal name. Stephanie Plum is a registered alias though, so I can sign my name accordingly and it will still be valid legally. I, however, try not to sign documents because it always feels a bit like cheating to me. But because Stephanie Plum is a registered alias, I can go to court and have my testimony given without having to reveal my true name."

Grant paused and looked at me. "That's true. I had never seen Ranger sign his name with a last name."

"Well, if Elmo can do it, why can't Ranger?"

Grant laughed. He looked at me. "How about you try a meal replacement drink?"

I sighed, and he looked at me sympathetically. "Okay", I said dejectedly.

Grant smiled. "Five more days of taking this medication, and this day is almost over. That means you should only feel this sick for four more days, and you can be knocked out through half of it."

"How long do you think that I'll be taking the turbocharged painkillers?"

"Probably two more days. But in two more days, I anticipate the infection will be gone and so you will only be dealing with the normal amount of pain from the burns. However, with sleeping as much as you have, I have noticed that the healing of your burns has sped up as well. I'm hoping that, when you are finished the course of antibiotics and are awake for part of the day again, your burns won't be as sensitive."

I smiled. "That's a good thought."

"I'll get your drink. While I do, Ranger asked you to check your emails. Also, Ranger is just bathing the kids right now, and he said that he'd bring them in for another healing hug and kiss before they go to sleep."

I grinned.

As Grant retrieved the meal replacement shake, I reached over and picked up my phone and scrolled through my messages. I had a few administrative messages that I forwarded to Miguel, a thank you message from Noah that I forwarded to Ranger, Tank, Hal and Miguel, and I opened the message from Miguel concerning Darla. The men had gone back the last five years and looked into her past, and it appeared that she had been given her university degrees and she hadn't had to go to classes to get them. That made me go 'hmm'. The same thing was true for her grad work. In fact, it wasn't even a course that the Caribbean university offered and she hadn't been out of the country at the time. And although that was a red flag, even more was the fact that the two degrees were given to her at the same time. There was something definitely hinky about the whole thing.

She 'graduated' three years ago. She then had gone door-to-door around Houston to raise funds for a 'charity', although the charity didn't exist and the funds went into her pocket. The neighborhood residents complained when they didn't get tax receipts, and it wasn't until they complained to the fraud department that people found out about the scam. Unfortunately, the fraud department did little and Darla hadn't been caught. She had only been in Houston for nine months and then, when things got a little hot, she moved to Chicago and changed her name. Then, twelve months later, she changed her name and moved to Phoenix. And nine months after that, she again changed her name and moved to Trenton. I could be wrong, but it seemed to me that she was running, and I wondered how Miguel and the team had got the information.

I read a little further and smiled as my suspicions were confirmed. Darla and Zack had been part of the WITSEC program. Darla previously was the wife of the most successful con man in history. A modern-day Frank Abagnale Jr., he had done everything from pretending to be trained in highly-skilled jobs to bank fraud. He had started out young and by the time he was thirty, he was a multimillionaire. When the FBI was getting close to capturing him, they approached Darla and asked her to testify against the man. Darla went for it. The FBI arrested him and froze his assets. That was when Darla got mad. She hadn't understood that the assets would be frozen and according to the FBI, she didn't understand why she couldn't spend the millions and millions of dollars.

Darla said that her husband had vowed retribution and even though he was in jail, he arranged for her to be killed. Darla was beaten and, when she was in the hospital, the U.S. Marshals approached her and offered her protection. Scared, she took it.

However, she wasn't playing by the rules. In the last three years, she had broken the rules three times and the U.S. Marshals got frustrated and gave her the boot. Now that she was on her own again, she was struggling to support herself without revealing herself. Because of that, I didn't know what possessed Darla and Zack to change their names to Suksalot. I mean, if that was my last name I'd be changing it away from it, not changing it to it. Although, since their birth surname was Felletia, maybe I could see their point. And I knew that Darla and Zack had picked their name themselves. The WITSEC program usually picked names that didn't stand out and were more ubiquitous. Having a name like Suksalot was memorable, and that's the opposite to what the WITSEC program wanted and encouraged. Apparently, Darla and Zack hadn't learned anything when they were in protection.

Miguel then overviewed the original case file that they were put into protection for. Her husband, Simon Brown, was charismatic and well-liked, a man who teachers had reported as having an off-the-charts EQ. He was a talented actor. I looked – there was no similar breakdown of Darla and I suggested to Miguel that one was done. Since it was one of the things that they had talked about in court and used as proof that Simon had been able to carry off the cons, I personally would be interested in what Darla's IQ and EQ were. After having met her, I thought her EQ was low – but that didn't mean that her IQ was. I rather suspected that she was smart – she had just picked the wrong mark for her con, a mark that wouldn't lie down and cry uncle. It wasn't like she'd have been able to research us. On paper, we were just a company employing a lot of security guards – and on paper that was all we did.

As I reviewed both our report and the court transcripts, I developed my own theory. What if Simon was the front man, the actor who had an EQ that allowed him to connect with people and con them, and Darla was the kingpin behind the scenes, the person who was doing the research and creating the cons? I sent a note to Miguel and asked him to check it out with the FBI agents responsible for the case and, at the same time, have the other Gurus work the case as if it was a new case to see if the original arrest was a fair arrest. Something was telling me that Darla had been far more involved in the case than the FBI gave her credit for, and that she was in fact behind or an equal accomplice behind most of the fraud schemes. That is, after all, what her current behavior showed.

I put down my phone as Ranger and the girls walked in. I grinned at the girls. "Do you know what?" I said.

The girls smiled. "What, Mommy?" they said at the same time.

"I was talking to Grant, and he thinks my infection might be gone in another two days. All your stomping and all your healing hugs have made a difference, and I am amazing Grant with how fast I am getting better. And you know what?"

"What?" they said. They bounced a little on their toes in excitement and joy.

"Grant said that in four more days I don't have to take the medication that has been helping me get better. I have to take it two more days to help stomp out the infection, and another two days to chase it away and make sure it doesn't come back. But the medication makes me feel yucky, so I am very glad that I won't have to take it too much longer. So do you know what that means?"

"What?"

"You might want to make a batch of cookies in five days, because my stomach should be more settled and I will be feeling better. And my stomach will be feeling like cookies. And fruit salad."

"With mangoes?" said Alix.

I sighed. "Yes, sweetie. With mangoes."

The girls grinned. "Peanut butter-oatmeal raisin-chocolate chunk?" they said as they grinned in joy. Peanut butter-oatmeal raisin-chocolate chunk was a recipe that Tracy had found, and it had quickly become my family's favorite cookie recipe. The kids were like me, and they loved all cookies. To have to pick a favorite was too hard, so being able to combine all our favorites together into one cookie was perfect.

"Is there any other kind?"

The girls laughed.

"Did you bring books to read to me?" I said.

Ranger handed the three books to me, and the girls climbed up on the bed and cuddled in. We had a system that the three girls would sit beside me, and the one that was reading the story would cuddle in while the other two looked on. That was the only way we could keep it fair. The girls were especially possessive of their time with me when I was knocked out so much. They weren't getting enough face time, and they were struggling.

That night was no different. It looked like the girls had each selected the longest book that they could find, and they took great delight in reading them to me. When they were finished, we talked a little about school opening the next day and their feelings about it. All three girls were anxious in their own ways. Tia was worried because the school had her skip a grade, and everyone she knew was in kindergarten. Alix was worried because there were a lot of people there that she didn't know. And Grace was worried that my health would backslide without the three of them there to stomp out the infection and give healing hugs.

When we had finished talking and I had finished reassuring them, they gave me copious healing hugs and kisses, enough to last the next day as well, and Ranger picked up Grace and Alix while Tia climbed on his back, and he carried the girls to their beds. As he walked out of the room, I said, "when you are finished, would you mind coming back and talking to me about Darla? I have briefly gone over the research."

Ranger smiled. "I was wondering how long it would take you to review everything. I'm interested in hearing your take." As he left the room, I took a few minutes to print out letters to each of the children telling them how proud I was of them, how they were good people, and that I couldn't wait to hear their stories of all the ways they had shone during the day.