Chapter 36
RPOV
"Why are you mad at me?"
Hearing Steph say those words had me reassessing how I felt. Was I mad at her, was that what she thought? I knew that I was mad, but not at her, it was because someone had managed to sabotage the helicopter and I had let my guard down. I just never thought that someone would do that or go to such extreme lengths so had tried to gain some control of those thoughts and emotions as we'd walked. Why would Steph think that I was mad at her? Did she think that I was mad about the watch? Hell, that had been a genius move by Steph though why she hadn't told me about it was a bit confusing.
"How did you have that watch?"
She wouldn't look at me and I could see her cheeks slowly reddening. Why the hell would she be embarrassed because of the watch?
"I, err, didn't give it back to you. I suppose I wanted to keep it"
I didn't even remember that she still had it and I had no issues with her keeping it but was still struggling to work out why she was embarrassed that she'd kept it. I lifted her chin up so that I could see her face and decided that she needed to know something from me.
"Did you know that I have a box at the house where I keep some personal things, like birthday cards or Christmas cards that came from you"
Yeah, that had her looking up at me. I wasn't going to tell her about everything else that was in that box because I had plans for some of those items in the future.
"From me?"
"Everyone you ever gave me along with other things, like the registration plate from the Merc that was stolen and keys for some of your cars that were destroyed"
Her eyes went wide as she listened to me, so I knew that I'd said the right thing.
"I thought that you were mad at me for still having it because back then you meant something to me. I hid it in my bag so you wouldn't see it and then after the crash thought, what the hell, it might work, but I didn't know for sure"
Hell we were two mixed up people that needed to communicate better so letting her know why I was mad had to be said.
"I wasn't mad at you. I was annoyed with myself. I should have been more vigilant that something could happen, and I wasn't. If anything were to happen to you, I wouldn't copeI needed to get control of that emotion, which was why I kept my distance from you, in case I took it out on you"
I saw the slight nod of her head so at least she believed me and I was relieved that we'd been able to talk before continuing our journey. There were a lot of questions that needed answering and until I had some answers, I wouldn't be letting my guard down again. It was a miracle that only Torres got badly injured in that crash, the idea that something could have happened to Steph wasn't something that I wanted to go through again. Though I had a feeling that having Steph permanently in my life wouldn't stop other things from happening but at least I could try to reduce the risks.
Hearing an engine start I turned to see the first Hummer driving away, hopeful that the men would get Torres to the hospital quickly. That left the second Hummer for the rest of us though it wouldn't be for long because Tank had left an SUV back on the road with Binkie guarding it. Of course it was going to be a tight squeeze to get everyone inside the Hummer and I knew for a fact that Tank would insist on driving. Taking Steph's hand, I got into the front passenger seat and then pulled her onto my knee. If anyone was going to get up close and personal with her it was going to be me.
Hector, Santos, Frank and Ram pushed themselves into the back of the Hummer without a word which was actually surprising for Santos. I held Steph tightly as Tank drove over the uneven terrain, realizing that we would never have found our way out the area and Torres would never have survived. Even Tank had to retrace the route that he came in by, through back tracking the Sat Nav. It took nearly an hour to reach a road after which my muscles were tense from holding Steph who somehow had managed to fall asleep so not wanting to wake her I moved her across to the black SUV waiting for us.
"I'm staying with you Ranger. I don't like that someone tried to take down that bird"
Looking around I wasn't sure that we needed as many men as were here but conceded that Tank would want to be with us. The SUV was a seven-seater so not everyone would be able to stay with me because someone would need to take Tank's hummer back to Trenton. I started to look around at who was with which didn't go unnoticed by Tank.
"We're all going. I'll be behind you in my truck with Hector and Binkie"
Tank wasn't in the mood for arguing and maybe he was right to be cautious, a vehicle following us would be added security, so I conceded by nodding my head. Santos was with me in the front while I drove, and Frank had Steph with her head resting on his knee while Ram had the back seat to himself.
Three hours, 152 miles later we eventually arrived at the address that Frank had given to us. I was surprised that we were parked outside a private residence and not in front of a government building but I was going to let Frank take the lead on this. Frank had woken Steph up, but I was the one who helped her down from the car and watched as Hector and Tank disappeared past the house and into the grounds to keep watch.
"You okay Babe?"
I asked as she stretched her arms above her head and looked ahead at the building that we had parked in front of.
"He lives here?"
She asked to no one in particular but Frank heard her and taking her by her elbow started to walk up the path toward the red painted door. Ram and I followed while Santos stayed by the car taking in the enormous stone built property. I'd never really thought about the colonel outside of his uniform or as a person. He had always been very professional and thorough whenever I'd had cause to meet him, which as it happened was after that mission. An armed man answered after Frank pulled the chain for the bell and we were ushered into an entranceway. This was separated from the main house by a second locked door which added security to the occupier. As we waited I found the cameras that were watching us so was hoping that the colonel was expecting us.
"Sir, the colonel is expecting you"
At the sound of the door clicking open remotely a second man was soon leading us through a hallway and into the lion's den. I stepped to the side to allow Frank to enter first and then watched as Steph followed before I went through this last door. I was surprised that we were in a large informal lounge area with the colonel dressed informally in a blue shirt and black pants. The colonel only really looked at Frank as we entered so I was again watching their interaction.
A distraction had me looking at Steph wondering why she was rummaging through her bag but with Steph it could have been to find her lip gloss, so I dismissed it and waited for Frank and the colonel to stop talking. When they turned, I thought it would be to do introductions, so seeing Colonel Arthur Colston suddenly striding toward Steph had me stepping forward.
"Stand down Manoso. Hell, can't a man give his Goddaughter a hug"
That was not what I expected him to say but could see the smile on Steph's face as she stepped into his arms.
"I didn't realize that it was you, I mean I hoped it was, but I always called you Hat"
Okay now I was curious with why she would call him that and thought that maybe as a child it was her way of pronouncing Art. As the colonel stepped away his hand went to her neck, and he was fingering a necklace that I hadn't seen before.
"You remembered George, you kept him all of this time?"
I saw Steph look down at the necklace, obviously embarrassed yet again that she'd revealed her habit of keeping things that were obviously important to her.
"I never really forgot, how could I when it was you that read me the books and then tried to take me on adventures"
That was when Frank stepped back and stood by my side as Steph and the colonel reminisced over something that they had shared together.
"He used to call her Curious George from the children's book, Steph was just like George, constantly getting into trouble with a naive sense of childlike wonder, I don't suppose that she's lost that quality.
I had heard of the book, even seen some of the short cartoons of the character and had to admit that Steph certainly suited the name. I was still watching Steph as the colonel turned her and walked toward us noticing the small figure of a monkey on the chain around her neck.
"Do you have the RFID Frank?"
It was me who held out my hand with the RFID in my palm, but I wanted the colonel to know the story behind it being found and I was also concerned about how someone knew that we were coming here. I folded the device into my palm much to the surprise of the colonel and probably annoyance.
"Someone sabotaged our helicopter and caused us to crash"
It seemed that was all I needed to say for the colonel to understand the implication from what I'd said.
"Frank told me. There was no leak from my end, that's why I asked to meet here in my private residence. That why I've got Sherman, Santos and another man keeping watch?"
No doubt he had sensors and cameras outside, but I wouldn't have done that any differently.
"I'd never put Frank's or your lives in danger like that. Where else could the information have come from?"
It was Steph who stepped forward, partly to diffuse the tension between myself and the colonel but hopefully with another option to consider.
"What about Grant Jackson? Has he woken up yet or had any visitors?"
The colonel nodded to the man that was still stood by the door behind us, so I assumed that he was being tasked to find the answer to those questions. I understood why Steph would ask about Grant Jackson because he was the one man who could identify Steph as now having procession of the RFID and hopefully some useful information. The problem now was that the colonel needed to know that it was probably Steph who was in danger and to do that he needed to hear the whole story. Well at least an edited version because I really didn't want Frank knowing all of the details, no father needed to be told the danger his daughter had been in due to attending a family wedding.
"Maybe you need to be aware of the background first before anyone looks at the content of this RFID"
I took Steph's hand in mine taking her to the couch where I kept her hand in mine. Frank sat next to Steph while the colonel sat in the chair opposite us. I decided that I'd be the one to relate the story because if Steph did it then she might become too emotional.
"Circumstances arose warranting Steph to accompany Frank to the Frusco family wedding, but she had no idea of the ulterior motive for the visit. After Frank became ill and was relocated back home Steph accepted a job with her cousin Allegro Frusco at her fashion company called Scintillante. Unknown to Steph, Jackson implanted the RFID sub dermally into her arm. Events unfolded that resulted in Dario Frusco being arrested for trafficking woman which impacted on the business of the company and its employees"
I looked at each person sat next to me ensuring that they understood what I was saying pleased when Frank and the colonel simply nodded their heads for me to continue.
"Steph overheard two men while at Scintillante, a man called Tomas Mele and an American man talking about another enterprise they had going. Unfortunately, they saw her. They were desperate enough to stage an explosion which would have declared her dead, while they took her and locked her up. That was where Steph found Jackson and got them both to safety. We believe that they are stealing jewelry and precious stones, resetting them and then selling them"
Saying the story as I had brought one question to my mind. If they wanted to get rid of Steph, then why hide her instead of allowing her to be in that explosion? Unless they had planned to go back to get her to tell them where Jackson's information was. That said whose was the body that was found in the apartment? Steph's hand was still between my palms on my lap as I waited for any questions, pleased when only silence greeted me.
I watched as the colonel went to his desk and brought out a laptop with a device attached to it, knowing that now was the time to decrypt that RFID. Handing it over I watched as he set up the laptop on his desk and then placed the RFID into the reader and felt as Steph tensed. He soon had three of us stood behind him, all eager to see what would be revealed.
The information that appeared was encrypted so was transferred into a second program that slowly began to convert the contents into a file that could be look at. There was a lot of information that appeared in chronological order, no doubt reports that Jackson had put together while working. The colonel went to the last report, which was hopefully the one that would give us the evidence needed to identify exactly who was involved in the heists, transport and sale of the jewelry.
There were a lot of photographs of people, files and of screenshots, hopefully containing evidence that would support arrests.
"Colonel, do any of these contain details of names?"
Because to me the name of the American might help us to find him. As he went through the photos, I recognized Allegro and Tomas and one of the men that I'd seen at the workshop that I'd visited with Tomas. I was pleased when Steph pointed to another man, and recognized him as the American, the man that we'd seen at the rental house and the man who we already had two names for. Other photos were possibly of buyers, but it was the screenshots that gave the most information. Copies of emails between Allegro and someone with the name Alan Golder in the email address.
"He's a famous jewel thief so that's a nickname that's being used"
Came from the colonel dispelling any hope for a real name. The problem was that there was a lot of information to go through and it would take time and a keen eye to sort through it.
"What happens with this information?"
Because an idea was starting to form in my head which could help to speed up the process.
"If this information can be validated then Interpol will issue warrants for the arrest of concerned parties. Do I detect an interest in being involved Manoso?"
I looked to Steph because she was the one who had been the most affected by everything that happened and at the moment it seemed that one of those people was after her.
"I want in, at least to have a look at the information that Jackson gathered"
If anyone could find something in everything that Jackson had recorded, then it would be Steph but I had a feeling that she probably knew a lot of the details already. At that moment the door opened and the man who was given the job of checking up on Jackson walked in. To me he looked slightly agitated which didn't bode well.
"Sir, I have news on Jackson"
"Go ahead, everyone here is cleared"
At least that meant that we would get the news first hand and that the colonel was starting to see us as part of the team.
"Mr Jackson was beginning to make progress. He was regaining consciousness but was very lethargic and confused. He had a two man guard on him 24/7 with only medical staff allowed in his room"
"For god's sake get to the point, Keating"
"A woman had stolen the id for a nurse and had been in the room with Jackson when the alarm was raised. She escaped, but the worry is knowing what Jackson told her"
If Allegro had been the woman and she learnt that Jackson had given the information to Steph then that would be a very good reason to try to get to Steph. Tomas knew her association with me so it wouldn't take a genius to track where she would be or that an order for a helicopter by Rangeman to go to Washington would have her on board.
"The woman, do we know who she was?"
"Copies of any glimpses of her have been sent out. There's a copy been sent to your secure email, sir"
Wisely the man turned and left the room after delivering that piece of bad news. If Allegro and the men now knew that the information had been handed over, would they still be looking for Steph? Did she have knowledge of something that Jackson had missed but didn't know it?
"By the look of you I think that you need to get some rest. I'll get everything organized while you do that. Use the rooms upstairs, there are enough. My wife is away for the week so no one will disturb you"
Looking at Steph I could see that she was tired, we all were, it had been a long day and night.
"Do you need me to arrange a safe house to stay in while we catch these people or do you think that now they know the information has been passed over, you'll be safe?"
I shook my head at the colonel because I wasn't going to take the chance that Allegro, or her men wouldn't still come after Steph, and I would decide on a safe house. One that wasn't on any records. Taking Steph's hand, I walked out of the large lounge area with Frank and Ram behind me to find Tank, Santos and Hector waiting in the hallway.
"We've been replaced and told to get some rest"
As we walked up the wide staircase I waited to see where anyone would head to and watched as Santos led Frank to the rooms to the right. He turned as Frank went in through one of the doors before finding a room of his own. To be honest I hadn't even thought that I wouldn't be in a room with Steph and was worrying that it might not be appropriate with her father being so close. As I opened a door for Steph, she pulled me in behind her.
"Babe, your father is just down the hall"
Even with her looking so tired she was frowning, as though she hadn't fully understood what I meant.
"He knows that we're living together so I assume he's not stupid and knows that means we sleep together"
I wasn't even sure when Steph had told him that, but I wasn't complaining. Following her in and shutting the door I watched as she headed straight for the bathroom and decided that was probably a very good idea. I waited until I could hear the water running before I got rid of my clothes and walked in, then I slid through the glass door as the steam swirled around her perfect body. I'd missed her and the intimacy between us.
"What took you so long?"
I smiled as she said that and was soon standing behind her, my hands sliding over her hips while my mouth found her neck.
I set the alarm on my watch to give me five hours sleep, though no doubt it would end up being less than that. Having Steph so close was definitely a distraction and after a fast and rough session in the shower I was ready to make slow passionate love to her, after all that was what she deserved, to be thoroughly loved.
I woke as the alarm vibrated on my wrist so switched it off quickly. Steph was fast asleep in her usual position, laid over my chest. Using my pillow, I gently placed it beside her and then carefully slid from the bed. The bag that I'd brought had spare clothes for the both of us so I was soon dressed and closing the door on her sleeping form. Downstairs I followed the smell of coffee to find myself in a large well appointed kitchen where the colonel was sat at the table in the middle of the room.
"Coffee's on the stove"
Were his only words so I poured a coffee and went and sat down opposite him.
"I sent everything to your secure email, you still have it don't you?"
I nodded my head because yes, I still had the account. It was one of those jobs that I never quite got around to doing when I was waiting for the medical discharge to come through.
"You did the right thing getting out when you could. She's a hell of a woman and I can imagine that she can keep you on your toes. Hell, she was so curious but so tenacious as a kid. I'd go visit with ideas of what we could do, you know like treasure hunts. Had some close calls when she took a totally different direction and I had to bail her out. Her ma put an end to it, told Frank she didn't want me to visit the house again. We kept in touch though, we were close friends in those days so knew everything about each other, but work started to get in the way. I totally regret asking for Frank's help because I should have known that Steph would end up getting involved, it's in her nature"
I'd never had a conversation with the colonel like this before, he'd always been so professional that I suppose I never saw the man behind the uniform. The way he had known Steph so well endeared me to him, made me want to trust him.
"She's still the same. She sees things totally differently and senses when something is off which is when she usually ends up in trouble"
And I suppose as the colonel had said, it was in her nature for that to happen.
"Steph will sift through that information and find patterns that other people would ignore"
"Are you still worried that she's in danger?"
I nodded my head even though I couldn't say why. The tie that I had with Steph had me sensing when she was in danger, something that I couldn't explain, maybe something similar to her spidey senses.
"I have somewhere where we can go that is safe. Steph hates the idea of being in a safe house, it makes her claustrophobic, and she gets antsy"
"Maybe from when her mother used to ground her. She made her stay in her room even though Steph never knew what she'd done that warranted that"
That shone some light on her behavior and why she hated safe houses.
"We knew of Allegro, Tomas and the American, have warrants been served?"
"Yes. Every agency have their photos in Europe and here in the States. I suspect though that they are here already. There are other men included in the warrant, you have those details"
I sat back in my chair because all of a sudden it occurred to me that a lot of agencies, manhours and money had been put into an operation to catch a jewel thief.
"I need you be straight with me colonel. Why are these thieves garnering so much attention?"
"Arthur, we're past the formalities, hell you're with my goddaughter now"
I almost smiled but I wasn't going to be put off from finding out the truth and watched as Arthur sighed before deciding to continue with an explanation.
"As you said jewel thieves don't usually concern so many agencies but what was stolen and how they were stolen did. It seems that whoever is doing these heists has a list of the worlds most famous and expensive jewels, but it didn't come to anyone's attention until recently. He steals the original by replacing it with a fake, so unless the person who owned it had it valued or cleaned no one was the wiser"
Which was what Steph and I had surmised when we were looking at how Allegro was selling the jewels.
"He started with some very high profile pieces. The Star of Asia considered to be one of the world's finest star sapphires coming in at 330 carats was on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. The piece was removed from display to be cleaned but it was a year before anyone realized that it wasn't the original. Fortunately, it was discovered when the residence of Jaime BotÃn was searched after he was arrested for attempting to smuggle a Picasso out of Spain. Then there was the Napoleon Diamond Necklace, same MO, but the theft was detected, and the police managed to track down where the necklace was being kept. The thief had bolted, and no clues were left. In Germany they lost the Dresden Green, the largest natural green diamond in the world. They managed to buy it back from a merchant who had bought the diamond through a bidding site. There were others which was when the message went out to any owners of unique jewelry to be on their guard. That was when the thief moved to private owners who weren't aware of how he operated. The last one was Melania Trump's engagement ring, 15 carat and worth $3 million. Donald just upgraded her ring to a 25 carat one, but the fallout from that hit everyone. Secret service agents were blamed, and the Trumps demanded action"
I hadn't realized how far reaching the thefts had gone or just how valuable some of the items were that had been stolen.
"Grant was asked to work with Interpol because they were seeing the same pattern. I got involved because Grant is my wife's nephew and he asked for my help. He was sure that he was close to tracking down the man responsible, but he was worried that he might not be able to get information out. Something about not trusting an agent in Italy, which was when I asked Frank to help out"
Which I already knew was Enzo Perreti. Finding the man responsible for planning these heists was pretty high profile and he seemed to be very well organized and extremely skilled at what he did.
"He must have good contacts to know where and when jewelry is going to be transferred to be cleaned or valued"
I turned seeing Steph stood in the doorway. To say what she had meant that she must have overheard Arthur's explanation of why the heists were so high profile. I watched as she went over to the stove and poured herself a coffee, adding cream and some sugar to it. I pulled out a chair for her to sit next to me wondering where her thoughts were taking her.
"Didn't you say that you recognized the American from a break in at a jewelers that Rangeman does security for?"
I nodded my head and recognized where her thoughts were taking her. She was right, we needed a conversation with the owner to determine what jewelry was in the store for repair or cleaning. It could be that a piece was swapped out but from what I could remember none of the men had anything on them when they'd been searched. So where was the fake or real piece?
"Somewhere to start Babe"
Yeah, we needed to get back to Trenton and start with what we knew because somewhere along the way we'd find the mistakes that had been made that would enable us to find that American thief.
There was very little conversation after that because Arthur became busy preparing food for everyone. The kitchen soon filled up with everyone doing something to help so it wasn't long before we were helping ourselves to salads, rice and pasta dishes to accompany things from the BBQ. Conversation was light, staying away from why we were here, though that was never far from my mind. While everything was tidied away, I busied myself with the return trip home and spoke with Ella about preparing the house for Steph and myself with a couple of men who would be backing us up. Word came from Cal that Torres was stable, but would remain in hospital for several days, with Cal remaining with him. The only way after that was to have Torres moved to Rangeman where Brown would continue to keep an eye on him.
I felt that the visit had been successful, we'd delivered RFID, been read into any information, had rested up and been fed, so it was time to leave.
