Chapter 35

"Cupcake, what trouble are you in now?"

I raised my eyebrows and tried to kick the door closed but of course Joe's hand came out and stopped it from closing. I stepped back as he came toward me, holding the box tightly to my chest.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were back?"

"Why would I do that?"

Was an automatic response from me. I mean what was it to do with Joe?

"I could have picked you up from the airport. Why Milan Cupcake?"

That was when I remembered that Enzo had said that he'd called Joe to get more information on me.

"Joe where I was has nothing to do with you. We finished, remember?"

Looking at Joe I saw his body language change as he leant against the wall in front of me. His expression told me that he was trying to be nice to me. Yeah, I knew that look, those puppy dog eyes and smile, that in the past would have had me melting into him. The thing was that I was totally immune to it now and for some reason he didn't realize it.

"Come on Cupcake. You've had time to think it through and I suppose I did push you which had you running. I know you've come to your senses. I missed you and the boys missed you"

All I could do was to stare at him, what did he think had happened while I was away? Did he think that I'd change my mind and be eager to get back together?

"What part of me saying that we were over did you miss Joe?

I tensed up as he stood up straight and could see that he was trying to maintain some control.

"You always change your mind Cupcake. I'll change if that's what it takes. You can keep your job, hell I'll even help you with it"

"Too little, too late Joe. I have no regrets with us finishing, it was the right choice for me"

I kept my voice calm, no shouting and because I was holding onto the box there were no arms waving around either, probably totally out of character for me which seemed to unsettle Joe even more. His stance changed as he bounced on the balls of his feet and his fists were clenching as he held his arms at his sides. I wasn't feeling comfortable with how he was behaving but couldn't think of anything to say that would alleviate the situation.

"I won't accept that Cupcake. I won't give you up, we're meant to be together, to get married and have kids"

Okay I'd had enough of this. It seemed that Joe just wasn't listening to what I was saying. Was he so pigheaded that he thought that he could bully me into getting back with him? Well, that wasn't happening. I made to turn thinking that I could get to the bedroom and keep him out but before I even took a step his hand was suddenly around the top of my arm pulling me toward him. That had two effects. The box dropped from my arms spilling the contents all over the floor and he totally pissed me off. I was so fed up with people grabbing hold of my arm especially like now when it hurt. I was pretty sure his fingers were pressing down on the incision that had been stitched. Okay, I saw red and lost it. I yanked that arm up which made him step toward me as his grip slackened and at the same time balled my right fist up and swung a punch at his face.

Maybe it wasn't a brilliant punch, but I knew from the drip of blood that I'd caught his nose. He reacted, which shouldn't have surprised me but the hard slap across my face did. He hit me so hard that my head bounced off the wall leaving me momentarily dazed. What happened after that was a haze because all I saw was another person suddenly turning Joe and delivering a lot of blows until Joe was laid unconscious on my hall floor.

I'd expected it to be Ranger or one of the Merry Men who'd come to my rescue but then again they wouldn't have known that I needed rescuing. Instead I was looking into the face of my father as he supported me with an arm around my waist and lowered me onto the couch. I watched as he disappeared for a few minutes and then as he brought a wet towel from the bathroom.

"You okay Pumpkin?"

I wasn't too sure because my face was hurting. My head felt okay but I wasn't going to start and look at my arm, that would involve having to explain why I had stitches there. What did surprise me was when the apartment door suddenly opened, and Ranger walked in. Okay now I was confused. My father stood the side as Ranger squatted down in front of me.

"Let me see"

The towel was removed for him to look at my cheek before he replaced it.

"Did he hurt you anywhere else?"

My hand went to my head and then to my arm indicating where Joe had grabbed hold of me. Ranger slipped my arm out of my sweater to take a look and then carefully removed the dressing over the incision. Even I could see that it was bleeding slightly and that there were red marks around my arm.

"How did that happen?"

I looked up to see my father pointing at my arm unsure of what to say.

"Long story"

I said in the end. I wasn't going to go through the whole saga of what had happened to me after he had left Milan. He'd feel guilty for leaving me and I didn't want that to happen.

"Where's Joe?"

I asked unsure of exactly what had happened to him and also worried in case he was still in the apartment.

"Hector and Ram took him home and then disabled his car. Do you want to press charges?"

I shook my head. I mean who would believe me? All Joe would have to do was to show someone the damage that I did to his nose and say he was defending himself or say that we had an argument and it got out of control. No one would believe that Joe pushed his way into my apartment and then grabbed hold of me first.

"How about we go back to Rangeman so Brown can check you over"

It wasn't a question and whilst in the past I would have said that I was fine I knew that Ranger needed to have that confirmed by Bobby. As I stood up my father was repacking my things back into the box and was soon following me out of the apartment. I locked the door and dropped the key into my bag before heading for the elevator and down to where my car was parked. Only it wasn't there. I felt Ranger turn me around and of course his Porsche was parked right in front of me.

"I've replaced a couple of stitches Bomber. It's a shame that happened because it was healing well"

I watched as Bobby stuck a dressing on my arm and then waited for what was to come next. Of course he examined my face by pressing lightly on my cheek before his hands were feeling over my head. I knew exactly when he found the spot where my head had hit the wall.

"Small bump. Any headache?"

"No"

I refrained from saying that it was fine because that was sure way of having Bobby worry about me. Looking up I could see that Ranger was watching me so standing up went over to him.

"Your father's down in the gym. He said that he wanted to talk to you"

I bet he did because I wanted to talk to him as well.

"How did you end up at my apartment?"

I stopped in front of the elevator waiting for him to answer.

"Your father called me, said that he needed some help in taking out the rubbish"

I remembered that it had been my father who had come to my rescue and beat Joe down but how was he there? Then it occurred to me, it must have been my mother who called them both and told them that I was back in Trenton. My apartment would have been the first place to look and then probably the bonds office. Yeah, I was that predicable.

Stepping into the gym and looking around I spotted my father on the weight bench so walked over to where he was. I watched as he replaced the bar onto the stand and sat up, wiping his face with the towel hung around his neck.

"You okay Pumpkin?"

"Yes, thanks to you. How were you even there?"

As he patted the bench next to him, I sat down, eager to hear why he had needed to see me.

"Your mother called me and I knew that I had to talk to you straight away. She obviously called Morelli at the same time"

"I take it she's still hung up on me marrying Joe"

For the life of me I couldn't understand her infatuation with that happening. Was it simply for her to have the accolade from her neighbors and friends that her daughter was the one to marry a successful policeman from the Burg? The supposed best eligible bachelor that every mother wanted as a son in law?

"Unfortunately yes, and Morelli is playing along with her"

I couldn't understand why he would do that because he knew I would never get back with him.

"Pumpkin, I'm so sorry"

I turned surprised why he would say that because nothing was his fault.

"Don't be daft, you aren't responsible for anything"

I stayed in Milan of my own free will and what happened was all to do with Dario and Allegro.

"I read the news. How is Gaia coping?"

So he knew about Dario's involvement with trafficking women but he wouldn't know that I'd become one of his victims or that Ranger had to rescue me. He wouldn't know that we were responsible for alerting the authorities and providing the evidence because I would never tell him. Which reminded me to ask Ranger to do the same.

"I spoke to her before I left. She's coping with what Dario has done"

I didn't want to upset my father with anything else just in case he mentioned it to Gaia. At the moment all we had were our ideas and no real definite proof of what Allegro, Tomas and the American, Christian Roberts or Adrian Decker, were up to. Though I was pretty sure both of those names were an alias. Okay I knew they had locked me up and basically thrown away the key but there was no hard proof of that happening. I hadn't actually seen one of them at that ghost town and we had no evidence of them fencing stolen jewels.

"Pumpkin. I should have told you everything"

I was looking at my father wondering what he could mean by that and was about to say something when his finger rested on my lips to silence me.

"An old friend came to see me several months ago. We were in the army together, but he stayed on and worked his way up the ranks. He needed a favor, one that I agreed to. You see I knew why my father left Italy his need to cut all ties with his brother and what he was up to. He would never go back, and I swore that I wouldn't either"

I was a little confused at how my father had changed the subject and was waiting to hear what the favor had been. That he spoke about knowing why his father had left Italy was confirmed by what Gaia had said to me but why had he agreed to go to the wedding if he'd sworn that he wouldn't go back to Italy?

"This friend knew that I had relatives over in Milan and asked me to be the contact for an agent over there. It was sheer coincidence that when I spoke to Gaia that she invited me to her son's wedding"

A contact for an agent? What the hell was that supposed to mean? Then it dawned on me that Jackson was an FBI agent and had been working in Milan. We never did find out what he'd been up to exactly, but he'd obviously pissed off Allegro and her friends.

"This agent was supposed to pass important information over to me so that I could bring it home but then I ended up in the hospital. I suppose I never even thought about it when I was ill but this agent. Well, it seems that he thought that you were the contact"

Me! Had I seen Jackson before I found him in that cell? I didn't think so.

"The agent came back in a bad way he's alive but incoherent, so no one knows what he found out. I need to ask you Pumpkin, did a man give you something to bring home?"

I was half way between panic and elation as it suddenly occurred to me that he was talking about Jackson. That RF thing that was stuck in my arm, could that be the information that Jackson was trying to get back home? I was suddenly running toward the wall by the door knowing that there was a phone down here.

"Yo"

"Ranger, where are you?"

"What's wrong, Babe?"

I knew that maybe I sounded desperate so tried to calm down my breathing before I started to talk again.

"It's about Jackson and that RF thing, my father knows about it but it was meant to be him not me but he got ill so it was me instead"

"Just stay where you are"

Yeah, that was probably for the best because at least then he might make better sense of the story from my father rather than me. I was surprised when the door opened before I made it back to my father so turned to see Ranger, Hector and Ram walk into the gym. I sat by father as he went through the whole story again but this time, I was pretty sure that he was feeling guilty for what he'd agreed to do and that he'd got me involved. If he'd only trusted me and told me what his ulterior motive had been then maybe Jackson wouldn't be so ill now.

As my father finished his story, I knew that the guys had totally understood why I'd asked them to come down here and I was pretty sure that Ranger was deciding what to do next.

"We need to take it to him then"

I heard what Ram was saying but I wanted to know what was on that RF thing, so as far as I was concerned wherever they took it then I'd be right there with it.

"Frank, who were you supposed to pass the information to?"

"Arthur, Arthur Colston. He's a colonel now. I can't call him when I failed what he asked of me"

I was smiling as I touched his arm, seeing that as he turned to look at me, he looked quite miserable. I was wracking my brains about the man that he knew wondering if I'd ever met him when Ranger suddenly stood up and swept his hands through his hair.

"Colonel Colston, Arthur Colston?"

"Yeah, do you know him?"

I wasn't sure if Ranger was nodding his head or shaking it because he sure looked confused to me.

"Ram arrange for a helicopter on the roof. Hector, have the RFID boxed up and ready to go. Frank, would you please call the colonel and ask him to expect us"

"We're going to him in Washington, why would we do that?"

I shook my head as I realized that no one had told my father that I had been given the information, but just hadn't known it.

"Jackson did give the information to me, but I just didn't know about it at the time. So we need to finish what he started and get that information to the colonel"

I left my father to change and followed Ranger as he went up the stairs cursing him at every step. Had I known that he was going up to seven then I'd have used the elevator. I was hot, sweaty and totally out of breath by the time I made it inside. I found Ranger in the bedroom changing into black cargos and T-shirt minus the Rangeman logo. I was so out of breath that I couldn't say anything and was doubled over with my arms on the bed.

"Are you okay Babe?"

"Just catching my breath"

I wanted to say more but needed to be able to breathe properly so stayed where I was as Ranger continued to dress behind me. As soon as I felt capable of talking I was turning toward him.

"I'm going with you"

Yeah, that had him stop what he was doing and look at me.

"You'll be safer here. We won't be away for long"

"I'm going. After everything that I've been through I deserve to go. Hell, it was me who was carrying the damn thing and me who rescued Jackson"

"Babe"

"Don't you Babe me. My father is going so why not me? I know everything that happened and can give any information that you can"

As I spoke Ranger was approaching me, with the look of a predator stalking his prey, but even as he tried to pull me toward him, I was stepping back. I wasn't going to be distracted by him holding me or sweet talking me.

"You know you are so sexy when you get mad"

I hadn't expected him to say that and it had me stopping what I was going to say. Of course that gave him a split second to jump at me, sending me backwards onto the bed. I couldn't move with his weight on top of me and after a few minutes of squirming I wasn't dure that I wanted him to move. But I can be evil in my own way, so I wriggled my hips around ensuring that I was hitting just the right place. When I heard him groan, I knew he was weakening.

"I'm going"

I whispered into his ear before tracing it with my tongue.

"Babe, we don't have time for this. You'll be the death of me, do you know that?"

"Only if you refuse to take me with you"

When I heard him sigh, I knew I'd won him over so when he eventually moved, I was quickly running into the bathroom. It was the quickest shower in history for me before I was dressing in a similar outfit to Ranger, having a brief moment to ponder where the clothes for me had come from. I pushed that away as I tied my hair back in a ponytail and had a lightbulb moment. A look at my cheek had me applying some makeup to cover the redness that been left from Joe hitting me but at least it didn't seem to be bruising up. Heading back into the lounge I rummaged through the box that I'd brought from my apartment until I found what I was looking for and slipped it into my bag.

The apartment was empty, so I assumed that Ranger had gone downstairs to talk to Tank so leaving the apartment door open I sat and waited. I would hear when the door opened up to the roof so assured myself that Ranger wouldn't trick me and leave me behind. It gave me time to sift through my memories from when I was younger, when life at home with my father had been a happier time.

It seemed to take an age before Ranger came into the apartment to let me know that the helicopter had arrived so together we made our way up the stairs and onto the roof. The day was clear but cool as we stepped out, a breeze caressing my cheeks and swirling some loose curls around my head. I was glad that I'd worn a jacket for the journey. No one seemed surprised when I went up to the roof where the helicopter was waiting for us, a large grey bird that looked formidable as it sat there, but I was smiling as the pilot helped me and in a mad moment gave him a hug.

"It's good to see you Torres"

"You too Steph. You doing okay?"

I nodded back to him as he sat me down and started to fasten the seat belt around me. By the time he returned to the front everyone else was on board and Les was closing the door. The seats were arranged in rows of two and it was my father who sat down next to me.

"Been a while since I flew in one of these"

To be honest I had never been aware of my father being a soldier when I was younger, yeah, he would go away from home, but my mother had told us that he was working at another post office filling in for a sick worker.

"When did you leave the army Dad?"

There was no way that I could hear anything because the increase in the engine created too much noise. I watched as he pulled down some earphones and passed them to me so pulled them on over my ears. They lessened the noise of the engine enough so that I could hear what my father's reply was.

"I suppose when I finally finished you must have been about four. I only did the occasion jobs so wasn't away from home very often. Your mother hated it and said that I needed to be home with my family like other husbands"

So even then my mother had been driven by trying to be accepted in the Burg. It made me wonder just how much she dominated what happened in the family, if my father had always succumbed to what she needed.

"You were a handful even then, so you and I spent time together, though not doing what your mother wanted you to do"

"I remember going fishing and when it was raining helping you in the garage"

I had happy memories of those times with my father before it suddenly stopped, and I was forced to do things like dancing or sewing. It created distance between my father and me and at the time I'd felt that he didn't want to spend time with me. Thinking back, I could see that it was all down to my mother, her trying to force me to do things that young girls should be doing.

I took my father's hand in mine as I looked through the window and continued my trip down memory lane. As we began to climb, I could see the river below us with cars travelling across that looked like toys. The helicopter banked slightly making me grip my hand tighter around my father's. I was actually beginning to question why I had been so determined to come because I knew that I didn't like flying. I was determined though not to show just how nervous I was so slackened my grip and looked around me.

My eyes immediately landed on Ranger, who was watching me intently. After a brief smile at him my eyes continued to see where anyone else was. Hector was sat next to Ranger with a rucksack on his knee and he attracted Ranger's attention. They were soon talking so my eyes moved across to the other seats. Les was with Ram in front of Ranger, both of them sat with their eyes closed. The seats in front of me looked to be empty or maybe that was where any other bags were though I knew that I hadn't brought one with me. Looking back through the window it seemed that we were following the river as it wound its way to the sea, a dark grey swirling mass of water that held solitary boats in its wake.

Images of towns passed below us before the scene changed to what looked like a forest. To be honest I was surprised that we were flying so low, I'd expected us to be a lot higher but maybe that was because I was used to flying on commercial planes that cruised above the clouds. The problem was that I was starting to feel nervous and maybe the way that I looked around the cabin alerted Ranger that I wasn't feeling very comfortable. That was when a juddering went through me, a vibration that seemed to come from everywhere. Even Les and Ram were suddenly sat up straight looking out of the window.

"Something's wrong"

Those words from my father didn't help my nerves and he was undoing his belt and moving toward the front where Torres was. I watched as he sat down in the seat next to Torres and their exchange of words. The juddering was getting worse and as I looked out of the window, I could swear that the trees below us were getting closer. Les had moved from the window seat and was now sat in front of me by the aisle so I quickly unclipped the seat belt and moved across to where my father had been sitting. Maybe we needed to balance out the helicopter but for me I just wanted to be away from the window. I slipped the earphones that had fallen to my shoulders back over my head in the hope of leaning what was happening, then regretted it.

"Fuel. I don't know if we have a fuel leak or there's something blocking the hose"

Without fuel the engine wouldn't work and the blades would stop turning, I wasn't totally stupid at envisioning what would happen next. We'd fall out of the sky.

"Pull the nose to reduce our speed"

Came through from my father, making me wonder how he would know that.

"Aint done that before"

Oh shit. I closed my eyes but opened them quickly when I felt a blanket being wrapped around me.

"Cover your head so flying debris doesn't cut you. It'll be okay Babe"

Ranger squatted down in front of me, his back against the seat in front of me and pulled me forward wrapping the blanket around me/ I felt his body pressed around me, holding me tight. The motion of the helicopter seemed to bounce around me, throwing me back and forth but Ranger was somehow still there holding me. The sound of shattering and breaking assaulted my ears but all I could do was to silently chant to myself, we'll be okay, over and over until finally it was the absolute silence and lack of any movement that had me daring to believe that I was still alive.

I pulled the blanket away from my face shocked at the carnage around me. My heart was the only thing that I was aware of, pulsing my blood through my body. Ranger was laid in the aisle but movement from him had me release a breath of air that I didn't know I was holding.

"Beautiful, don't move"

I desperately needed to move, weren't we in danger from the helicopter blowing up? Isn't that what usually happened around me? Les was squatted down in the aisle ahead of Ranger gently pushing Ranger on the shoulder. I watched as Ranger raised his head and shook it.

"Report"

Was the first thing that he said before his head turned to look at me.

"Torres is injured but mobile. Frank, some cuts and bruises. We need to evacuate before this thing moves"

I couldn't help but repeat what Les had said, what did he mean when he'd said, before this thing moves? Surely if we'd crashed then we were on the ground, weren't we? The feel of the helicopter tilting slightly had every muscle in my body tensing. I realized that it must have been Les struggling to open the door that had caused that movement but at least now we had an escape route.

"Babe, unfasten your belt and then very slowly move toward me"

I couldn't take my eyes from Ranger's as I unfastened my belt, though was struggling to work up the courage to move. I mean I was okay where I was, why would I want to move, what if me moving caused the helicopter to move again?

"Babe, your father's already out, we need to go. It'll be okay, I promise"

I saw his hand stretched out ahead of me so slowly moved until our fingertips touched. Then as I twisted in my seat, I felt another judder as though the helicopter was moving from below me. My hand was suddenly in Ranger's, and I was sliding down onto the floor next to him, both of us looking toward the door. Ranger's hands on my hips pushed me along the floor until I felt Les take hold of both my wrists and pull me toward the door.

"Shit no"

I screamed as I felt myself falling. My eyes screwed up tight as I prepared to land on the ground but instead, I felt myself land on something soft before being lowered to the ground slowly. A blanket was underneath me, a corner being held by Ram, Hector and my father.

"Move out the way Pumpkin"

Looking up I could see Les about to ascend a rope to where I was with Ranger right behind him, so moved away from underneath them. Les was soon on the ground but as Ranger started the decent an almighty scraping sound came from the helicopter and I watched as it began to tilt and slide. I was on my feet at the thought that Ranger might get dragged down with it and could only stand there and watch. He jumped, the stupid man jumped. He landed and rolled several times before stopping, laid on his back. Oh god, he'd hurt himself, went through me as I landed on my knees next to him.

"Ranger, Carlos"

I screamed trying to get him to acknowledge me. I was about to touch his face when his eyes opened, and he gave me that almost smile. I could have hit him I was so relieved to see that he seemed okay. A loud crashing sound had me turn to see the helicopter drop to the ground and roll before it disappeared. I followed the sound and realized that it had rolled and slid down the side of a small rock face to come to halt in a cloud of dust and tumbling rocks. I looked above me at the damaged branches surprised that they had held the weight of the helicopter for so long, relieved that they had as the dust below started to clear revealing the underneath of the helicopter.

The men were all stood in a group, no doubt trying to work out where we were and how we were going to get out of here. I pulled my phone from my bag only to see that there was no signal, so it wasn't going to be as easy as phoning someone up to ask for assistance. Seeing the old watch that I'd dropped into my bag earlier told me that it wasn't working. To be honest I wasn't surprised and had only put it into my bag so that I could ask Hector if he could fix it. On an impulse I pushed the button. If it didn't work then no harm had been done, but I knew that I had to try.

Walking over to where they guys were, gave me a chance to see Torres. He was sat down on a log, his arm in a sling and blood and tears covering his once pristine white shirt. His face had lacerations on it, his hair was a mess and he looked totally pissed off.

"Are you okay?"

I asked him as I sat down next to him.

"I'm mad at what happened. It shouldn't have happened"

I had no idea what he was talking about, but it seemed to me that he knew more about the helicopter crashing than I did.

"What exactly are you saying Torres?"

Because a niggle was beginning to unwind inside my head that what had happened hadn't been an accident.

"That bird had just been serviced and checked over. Someone messed with the fuel, they must have done. There was no fuel leak, the gauge was showing that the tank was full"

"Messed with the fuel? How would that work?"

Not really having any idea what he meant. I was trying to remember any times that I'd broken down that hadn't been because of bullets or bombs and remembered a time long ago when I was a kid. As a dare I'd shoved potatoes into the exhaust pipe of a neighbor's car, he was mean and rude to everyone on the street, well that was our excuse. As he drove down the street the car slowly came to stop. Man, I got into deep shit for that.

"Blocking the exhaust might do it as well"

I casually said as I remembered how Mary Lou and I were praised by some of our neighbors for what we'd done. Torres didn't say anything instead he stood up and after shouting for Les they disappeared through the trees. Feeling like I'd been abandoned I continued over to where Ranger was to hear what they were planning.

"It's gonna be dark soon. It might be better to wait until daybreak before we try to move"

I moved into Ranger's side because I agreed with Ram, I had no desire to be wandering around the woods in the dark. Remembering the view from the helicopter before we crashed, I could remember vast areas of forest, which meant we could be totally lost.

"Salvage what you can from the chopper. We'll camp here for tonight"

I squeezed Ranger's arm so pleased that he was saying that.

"Maybe someone will find us"

I hadn't meant to say that out loud and from the looks that I got I was pretty sure they thought that I was nuts but maybe, just maybe, I would be right. Ram and Hector found some blankets and bottles of water but nothing more that would be useful. I decided to help my father to collect some wood because we would need a fire for the cold night that we were facing.

"You and Ranger"

I didn't stop bending down to pick up some pieces of wood because I wasn't sure where the conversation with my father was going.

"He seems to care for you Pumpkin"

I stopped and looked up at my father knowing damn well that he was aware that Ranger had gone out to Italy to look for me and that we'd been together ever since. Rip off the bandage, went through my mind. I knew what I wanted, well who I wanted, and to be honest I was fed up with people telling me who I should marry. Yipes, did I just have Ranger and marriage in my thoughts at the same time?

"We love each other, Dad"

I couldn't help but smile back at the big grin that came to his face and I actually felt relieved that he was happy for me.

"He's a keeper Pumpkin"

Was all that he said but I knew that he approved of my relationship with Ranger. I was so pleased that my father had never assumed anything about Ranger from his looks or the rumors that certain people spread. I suppose the fact that he'd been in the army as well helped and he went there for advice with exercising and diet, so he must trust the guys.

"He asked me to live with him"

At some stage my father was going to find out, so it was probably better coming from me.

"Pumpkin, if he makes you happy then that's all I need to know"

"I am"

I quickly replied though I was dreading having to tell my mother. She'd never really seen Ranger as a potential partner for me, maybe she hoped that I'd be put off with his bad boy image when really that was part of his charm. Whatever she thought wouldn't make any difference to me, except maybe I wouldn't be seeing much of her.

"We've got enough Pumpkin"

I thought so too because I wasn't sure that I could carry much more. Once back with the others I let Les build the fire while once again I went over to talk to Torres. To me he didn't look too good.

"Well, did you work out why we crashed?"

"How would you know that blocking the exhaust would affect the engine?"

I just smiled back at him because there no way was I going to tell him the truth. What dawned on me though was that someone had messed with the helicopter.

"They used some sort of gel that ran into the exhaust system. It seems to have turned solid as it heated up. Fucked up the engine. Sorry for the language"

"How would they know that the helicopter was taking us somewhere?"

"Only three companies use that bird and maybe they saw the flight plan. Damn, I got sloppy. Too many people in and around the hangers"

I reached out and touched his arm because he couldn't blame himself.

"You weren't to know, hell none of us even considered that this would happen"

It did have me questioning why the helicopter had been sabotaged. Of course that led me to assuming that it was because of me and that RF thingy. Would Allegro and the two men she worked with go to such extremes just to stop that information from getting out? Yeah, they would and that had me worrying about Jackson and how safe he was. No one would be able to predict if he might make a full recovery.

Leaving Torres I went and sat next to Ranger by the fire, leaning against him as I continued to watch Torres.

"He's hurt bad Ranger"

An arm came around me and pulled me against him, his warmth giving me more comfort than the fire.

"I know. Les thinks that he has some internal bleeding. He's done what he can, but Torres needs a hospital"

In other words, if we weren't found soon then Torres would die. He would be in no condition to walk and maybe that was why Ranger had agreed so easily to us staying here. At least Les and Ram were with him now keeping him company, no doubt Les would be able to help lighten his last few hours with some of his stories.

I think I must have been dozing when Ranger moving had me fully awake. I found myself flat on the ground with Ranger crouched next to me with a gun in his hand. Looking to my side Ram and Les were also in a defensive position. I had no feeling that anyone was threatening us but wasn't going to say that now. I trusted Ranger and the guys and knew they wouldn't shoot someone who was a friendly.

"Ranger. Stand down"

I didn't know what the term meant but I'd recognize the voice anywhere. I waited until Ranger lowered his gun and stood up before I got to my feet. Tank, Cal and Vince walked from the trees toward us, a shit eating grin on Tank's face. Even I was surprised when he ignored Ranger and walked up to me, lifting me off my feet.

"Little Girl, you sure have a way of shocking the shit out of me"

"Tank?"

Tank let my feet touch the ground but kept his arm around my shoulder as we turned to Ranger.

"We knew that the chopper never made it to Washington because you didn't make contact. Then this old alert came up. Took some time to find the identification number, but once we did, well here we are"

I could see that Ranger was confused, well until I pulled the old watch out of my bag. Yeah, you guessed, it was one that Ranger had given to me years ago and well, I just never gave it back. It was a panic button, one of the old styles so I'd reckoned he wouldn't miss it and I suppose it was something from him that I kept, like his T-shirts. I'd dropped it into my bag when I was at the apartment because I didn't want Ranger finding it and asking me why I had it.

"Have we a vehicle close, Torres is in a bad way"

It was all go after that. Torres was carried by Cal and Vince, so we followed Tank through the woods. In some ways I was disappointed that Ranger hadn't said anything to me, then again, I hadn't told him about the watch. The reason being that I had no idea if it would work or if it would be in range for someone to pick up the signal.

It wasn't easy walking in the dark, so many bits of wood and rocks that had me focusing on where to walk without falling over. It was eerily quiet with only the sound of occasional talking with everyone so focused on watching around us. Some of the time I walked with my father, but he was unusually quiet as well and to be honest I wasn't too sure how he was holding up. At least he had his medication with him because I was honestly worried that the stress of what had happened and then the exertion from walking might impact on his angina.

Ranger, well he seemed to be ignoring me, walking ahead with Tank and then took his turn to help carry Torres. I wasn't sure what that meant but as time went by it was definitely worrying me. Was he mad because we crashed or mad because of the watch? I wasn't sure and decided that maybe it was because of the watch. As dawn began to break it made it easier for me to move through the forest and maybe even appreciate where we were. The green of the trees, the sound as birds made their first calls of the morning and I was sure that I spied a deer in a clearing. I was so tired though and aching with so much walking making me realize again just how unfit I was.

"You okay Beautiful?"

Les was suddenly next to me and continued to walk next to me.

"Yeah, just tired"

I felt him taking my hand and realized that that was what I'd missed from Ranger, the contact and the conversation.

"You're quiet, so what else is wrong?"

I turned and looked at Les wondering why he would say that.

"Come on, when can you ever be quiet. Normally you'd be asking where we were going or when we'd get there"

I suppose that he was right but I'd begun to get so worried about Ranger and how he seemed to be ignoring me. That maybe he was thinking through how being with me wasn't what he needed. I'd pretty much talked myself into believing that the crash was because of me and once again someone was badly hurt. Yep, I was having a pretty good guilt trip as we walked.

"He's ignoring me Les. Maybe he realizes that I'm just not worth all the trouble. I got another man hurt badly and it's all my fault"

That had Les stopping which made me stop quickly with him still holding my hand.

"Don't ever think that Beautiful. None of this is your fault and Ranger would never think that"

He continued to walk which had me trailing behind him, his words not really having an effect on how I felt, and that was miserable.

"Besides we're nearly at the vehicles. Five minutes I promise"

I gave Les a smile but only because I felt that I had to, because I wasn't sure what would happen when we eventually got out of here. True to his word, five minutes later I saw two large Hummers parked on a small track between the trees but instead of feeling elated I was feeling anxious. I stood back as Torres was loaded into one of the vehicles not sure who would be going with him. That was when Ranger walked toward me, his face blank enough that it was almost scaring me. I didn't realize that I was slowly backing away from him until my back hit a tree and I had nowhere to go. I was almost thinking of turning and making a run for it but why should I do that?

"Why are you mad at me?"

I asked trying not to look at him in case he noticed how much my eyes had filled with tears.