Chapter 41

SPOV

As sunlight began to infiltrate the inside of the plane, I realized that the back of the plane was lowering. I'm sure that I gave out a little shriek as my legs were swept away from underneath me and I found myself in Carlos's arms being carried down onto the tarmac. I knew that he would have questions for me, probably a lot, but for the moment I was trying to come to terms with what had happened. Had everything gone as planned, not really, but then again, we'd had very little to go on. Even Art wasn't too happy with what I'd inadvertently got involved with, but he knew that if my father's and Carlos's lives were threatened then we'd have to make the best of the situation.

I felt Carlos stop when he reached the bottom of the ramp so lifted my head from where it had been comfortably resting against his chest. To be honest I wasn't overly surprised with what Carlos was looking at, but even I had to admit that it was a little bit over the top. There must have been at least six army trucks parked across the runway with a contingent of soldiers behind open doors, all with their rifles aimed at us.

"Stand down. Threat is neutralized"

Came from Art who was catching up with us. Like a well oiled machine the rifles were lowered and the men, all wearing combat gear, started to get into their trucks. Art hadn't been kidding when he'd said that he'd call in reinforcements.

"As soon as I worked out that they were heading for the airport I knew that we'd have to stop a plane from taking off, so I had my helicopter land before you got here and then made sure that no plane would be able to take off"

Art must have worked fast to get the reinforcements here and that they weren't seen wasn't short of a miracle. That had me wondering how Art was on the plane because I hadn't been aware of him. I knew that Hector was close, and I was definitely conscious of Carlos being near from the tingle that ran down my neck, though how he managed to be on the plane was something that I'd need to ask him later.

"How were you on the plane Arthur?"

Hmm, seemed Carlos's thoughts were working on the same line as mine.

"We had any aircraft on this side of the airport moved and came across a very belligerent pilot who wasn't wanting to cooperate. He soon folded and admitted that he had passengers due who had paid him a lot of money for him to fly them out. I took his place in the cockpit"

I hadn't known that Art could fly a plane, but it didn't surprise me. Carlos began walking again as three large black SUVs passed and stopped just behind us which had Carlos stopping again and turning around. We watched as Les and Hector manhandled Edgar inside one of them, of course Les just couldn't resist accidentally bumping his head on the roof, and then as a stretcher was pushed into the back of the other. I assumed that as there were no medics around that maybe Allegro hadn't been seriously injured. Ram was handing a large rucksack and that box to Art who waved to us before getting into the third vehicle.

"Can we go, I need to see my father"

To be honest I did want to do that but knew from our conversation in the van that he was okay. The reason for wanting to move was that I didn't want to see a black body bag coming from the plane, that would be too much of a reminder that I'd killed someone. I knew it had been him or me, or even Carlos but that reasoning didn't take away the pain that I was feeling from being the one to have done it. At seeing a group of men in black walking toward us I smiled as I recognized them. All of them looked ready to do battle with their black cargos and vests over their tops, some even carrying weapons over their shoulders. I felt humbled that they were here, ready to face down the enemy and come to my rescue. Tank was very obvious from his size but there was Cal, Binkie and Woody out front with some others behind. That was when I saw the smaller figure hidden amongst them walking and talking to Bobby.

They stopped when they saw us approaching and I wanted to get down, I didn't want my father to think that I was hurt. Carlos obliged so I was soon running to greet them, my arms open as my father stepped forward.

"Pumpkin?"

I saw where he was looking, dismayed that he thought the blood on my sweater was mine and that I was hurt, but as we held each other I was quick to dismiss any of his worries.

"I'm fine dad. The blood isn't mine"

"Is it over Pumpkin?"

I sure hoped so, so nodded my head.

"Yeah. Allegro and Edgar have been arrested and Eldrich, well he didn't make it. Are you alright?"

I asked looking at Bobby as well because I hoped that Bobby had checked him over.

"A few bruises, that's all. I take it that those were our jewel thieves then?"

"Yes"

I wanted to say more but wasn't too sure what my father knew of everything that we'd learnt or even if he knew why he had been kidnapped.

"I'm sorry that you got mixed up in this"

Because once again he was someone who could have been hurt badly and all because of me. I felt my chin being lifted by my father's hand and was suddenly quite afraid to look into his face.

"Pumpkin, this is not your fault. Hell, it was because of me that you got mixed up in this in the first place. You did good today, Pumpkin, I'm really proud of you"

Yeah well, maybe. At some stage he would be someone else who would want to know how I'd ended up agreeing to a crazy meeting. I felt Carlos behind me and as everyone gathered around us, questions were asked, but Carlos must have used his ESP with Tank because Tank was soon ordering the men to return to Rangeman.

We walked in silence back toward an old run down hanger, Carlos had his arm over my shoulder and my father was on the my other side. As we rounded the corner of the building I saw the contingent of Rangeman vehicles which had me remembering where they'd originally gone to.

"What happened at that building where you were watching?"

Because as far as I could work out Allegro had implied that she knew what was happening there, in fact she'd used the threat of hurting Carlos or any of the men who were there.

"We made a retreat when the police started to arrive"

"How would they know to turn up there?"

I felt Carlos shrug his shoulders implying that he didn't know and at the moment I wasn't interested but it was something that I'd hold onto until a later time, unless of course someone had told them. My mind went back to the hour that I'd spent after Carlos and the men had left the building. I'd immediately called Art to ask for his help and he was going to be flying up straight away but he'd asked me to make sure that there was a tracker with me when I went out so that he could locate my position. I knew that Hector was staying in the building to monitor the comms but he was the only person that I trusted after Carlos. Hector had always had my back regardless of whether I asked or not.

Of course Hector had been adamant to start with that I couldn't be the one to collect the box and it took a lot of persuasion on my part to get him to come around to my way of thinking. Him having a conversation with Art seemed to assure him that I would be safe and that we'd have plenty of backup. He was the one who had given me the knife to hide in my boot. Hell, that had worried me in case I ended up cutting myself and every time I walked, I could feel the discomfort of it against my ankle. Hector thought that I'd be checked for trackers and had come up with the idea of placing a tracker on the box instead, how he'd managed to sneal into Vinnie's back room and do that was beyond me.. He'd been right and I was grateful that the box and I stayed together. Though I still had the watch with me which would only emit a signal when I pressed the button.

I realized that thought thought never went through my mind, how stupid was that. I should have pressed it as soon as my hands were released form the rope tying me to that damn netting. Then again, I knew that Carlos was with me, so maybe it wouldn't have made any difference. Hector assured me that he would always be close to me without being seen, he really could be invisible when he needed to be. Hector was to contact Carlos when he knew where I was heading to, though how the Rangeman could leave their surveillance without raising the alarm was unknown to me. That left the issue of how the police had turned up, but I had a feeling that either Art or Hector were responsible for that. I was curious what was in the box and the rucksack but Art had taken them with him, something that I'd need to ask him.

I was surprised as we approached the vehicles when Ranger got into the back with me, leaving Tank to drive and my father in the passenger seat. I wondered what my mother would think when he turned up back home and whether she'd cope with having her husband and daughter caught up in this fiasco, I mean what would the neighbors think?

Was I surprised when my father stayed with us back to Rangeman? Not really because he probably had a change of clothes here from when he visited the gym. It would give him a chance to clean up before heading back home, which was something that I needed to do as well.

Everyone was deep in thought as we drove through the streets back to Rangeman. I wasn't too sure what would be happening when we got back but knew that I would be heading upstairs to get rid of the bloodstained clothes that I was wearing and then heading into the bathroom for a long hot shower. Most of the men used the stairs so I was on my own in the elevator as it headed up wondering if Carlos would want a meeting with the guys to go over what had happened. Did I want to be there? No, I knew what had happened and had no interest in hashing over what my part had been. Maybe in the back of my mind was the worry of whether Carlos would be annoyed with me for not trying to get word through to him. I sighed as the elevator doors opened and I stepped out and walked over to the apartment door because given the same situation again I wouldn't change what I'd done.

Stood underneath the spray of hot water didn't help me to relax as I thought it might do. In my mind all that I could see was the blood on my hands, blood that had come from Eldrich when he had lunged for me. Had I really needed to kill him? I knew that the act hadn't been intentional, the knife had been in my hand and the weight of Eldrich had it plunging into his chest. Could I have avoided it? I didn't know and was ashamed of myself if I could have.

I wasn't aware of anything other than the thoughts swirling around in my head and tears flowing down my cheeks so jumped slightly at a touch on my arm. I was turned around into Carlos's chest, feeling his arms as they banded around me. It was as though he was holding me together, physically and emotionally.

"There was no other ending, Babe. I was so worried that he'd shot you"

I looked up then, surprised with what Carlos had said. Was Eldritch going to shoot me? Then I remembered seeing him pointing a gun at me and maybe the sound of a shot being fired.

"I shouldn't have goaded him on with what I said"

Remembering what I'd said to him and how that probably hadn't helped.

"What was that about?"

I wasn't sure if Carlos had heard me or not but Eldrich had. The hatred in his eyes as he'd loomed over me had frightened me. There was so much hate in his eyes which confused me.

"His family lived close to us, mum, dad and the two brothers. I never saw anything of the father, but the mother always spoke to Lou and me. Edgar was the quieter of the two brothers but Eldrich, he was mean and scary even back then. Then the mother just disappeared. I remember the way that my mother tut tutted about it and how no Burg woman should ever walk out on her family. It was the scandal at the time but when the father and boys moved away it went quiet"

I suppose that I was too young to think anything about it at the time but now I was wondering what had happened behind their closed doors for that to happen. There were a few scenarios that came to mind, but I was soon forgetting all about them as I felt Carlos's mouth come down on mine. Yeah, I definitely needed something to take my mind off everything.

Neither of us ever got down to five that day. It seemed that we both just needed the feel of each other to ward off the events that had taken place.

It was the soft touches on my face that had me trying to swat them away. I was warm and ever so comfortable. The smell of coffee under my nose had my eyes opening to see Carlos's smiling face beyond the mug.

"Time for my sleeping beauty to wake up"

I stretched first and pulled myself up the bed to lean against the pillows holding my hand out for the coffee. It was then that I noticed how bright it was in the room and turned to look at the clock by the bed. I was trying to figure why it was saying 11.45 and looking again at Carlos realized that his face looked serious. Shit, what now?

"What's happened?"

Trying to go over in my mind what the hell we had missed and if there was still trouble lurking around.

"Morelli is downstairs with Eddie and refuses to leave until he's spoken to you"

That was not what I was expecting and I know that I groaned just thinking about it.

"Okay, give me fifteen minutes"

Yeah, I was resigned to the idea that I would need to see him, but I was damned if he was going to intimidate me or try to bully me. Watching as Carlos left with an empty mug, I was soon pulling clothes out of the closet. As I dressed, I was feeling annoyed at the gall of Joe being here and the more that I stewed the more annoyed I became. I grabbed my phone and reading the message that had just come through on it stuffed it into my pocket. I watched as Carlos raised his eyebrow at me as I walked through the lounge toward the door but was pleased when he followed me. Wanting to keep the mood that I was in I took the stairs instead of the elevator hearing footsteps behind me and came out on the ground floor.

"Where is he?"

Maybe Carlos knew what mood I was in because he never said a word, instead he opened a door to one of the conference rooms. I was glad that Carlos followed me in sure that he wanted to witness this particular meeting. Joe was stood at the other end of the room with Eddie stood next to him and I watched as Morelli straightened up while Eddie took a step backwards.

From the way that he looked me over I was pretty sure that me being rigged out in a full Rangeman uniform was annoying him. Good that was the impression that I was going with.

"Cupcake, you were supposed to help me find Roberts, not attack me with a stun gun"

I leant over the edge of the table with my hands on the table, staring at Joe as he said that.

"I won't respond to that ridiculous name so please rephrase your question"

I watched as he narrowed his eyes at me, yeah score one to me, because he didn't like how I'd corrected him.

"Alright. Stephanie. You know that I could have you arrested for assaulting an officer"

I felt my hands being drawn into fists as I remembered exactly what had happened in that alley with him.

"So just because you're a policeman that gives you the right to drag me into an alley and not expect me to retaliate to protect myself"

I watched as he opened and closed his mouth no doubt wondering if the lack of witnesses would have me in an awkward position and that people would automatically believe him.

"That isn't what happened. I tried to talk to you and as usual you got belligerent, I never touched you"

I handed my phone to Carlos who smiled as he saw the message on the screen and then we all turned as an image came onto the screen on the wall to one side of the room. I owed Lula big time because she'd caught the whole interaction between me and Joe and had recorded it. I raised my eyebrows at Joe as he looked from the screen to me then back to the screen because there in full color was Morelli dragging me into the alley and keeping me pushed up against the wall. In fact it gave good coverage of Morelli trying to take the file from me and then him dropping to the ground. Score two to me now, but I wasn't finished with him yet. I looked over to Eddie who now had the faint hint of a smile on his face and was standing taller.

"How about I press charges against him instead?"

I heard as Joe thumped his hands down on the table seeing just how pissed off he was with me.

"You were interfering with a police enquiry"

I smiled as I pulled out a chair and took my time to sit down thinking through how to continue my verbal assault on Joe.

"A case that you've had weeks to solve, a case where you wanted me to help you to find Roberts. You really are blinkered aren't you Morelli, you can't get over your own ego and see what's right in front of you"

Okay, it had taken me some time for me to work it out but then I hadn't seen a photo of Roberts until just before we had left Italy. Joe sat down now but his gaze never left me and I watched as a frown went across his face.

"What are saying, that I can't do my job?"

Oh he'd played straight into my hands with that comment and as soon as the words left his mouth he realized it.

"Remember those two kids that lived down the road from me, Edgar and Eldrich? Maybe if you hadn't been in with them then you would have seen the resemblance. But you didn't, so yes you're crap at doing your job. If you'd just stopped and looked then maybe everything that happened could have been sorted out sooner"

He was like a fish again, opening and closing his mouth, no doubt pulling memories of the two brothers to the front of his mind.

"That was years ago, how am I supposed to remember them. You're wrong Cup, Stephanie"

Telling me that I was wrong seemed to give him justification for his lack of memory, but I could see it in his eyes, he knew that I was right. I watched as he looked to the side of me and then I was aware of people coming into the room. Uncle Art, my dad and a man that I had to look twice at. They each took a seat surrounding me and were watching Morelli. I felt Carlos's hand on my thigh as he took the seat next to me and waited. The man who had surprised me looked very pale and he was obviously in some pain but I immediately I recognized him as Grant Jackson. I was sure there were others behind me but I refused to turn around and break my look away from Joe.

I think even Eddie was feeling a bit out of his depth until my dad looked at him and nodded to the seat next to him. I wasn't too sure what would happen now because I felt that I'd had my say with Joe and was pleased when Uncle Art leant forward on the table and looked at Joe. He was a daunting sight dressed in full uniform, so I was sure that Joe must have felt threatened by him.

"I remember you, a little thug that tried his best to intimidate my goddaughter. You're a disgrace to the force if you think that you can behave the same way now. I've looked at the cases that have your name on them and to be honest anything that required true investigative methods looked to have been solved by Stephanie. You're a leech Morelli so I've suggested to the chief that you need reassigning to somewhere that doesn't require much brains. He's all for that"

Joe was looking from me to Uncle Art I'm sure trying to work out if he knew him and probably trying to decide if Art could actually follow through on the threat that had been made. In true Morelli style he was quick to move though even I knew that he'd have to walk past Uncle Art to get out of the room.

"This isn't over"

Being the words that he mumbled out as he walked down the conference room.

"Oh, but it is. If I hear that you have approached or even gone anywhere near my Goddaughter, Stephanie, you'll be inside a crate being shipped into a war zone"

I raised my eyebrows at hearing what Uncle Art had said totally unsure if he could actually do that, though from how pale Joe had gone it seemed even he wasn't stupid enough to ignore the words. Even as the door closed behind Joe the atmosphere in the room lightened and I found myself smiling at Uncle Art.

"Okay, let's get this debriefing out of the way and then maybe we can get on with our lives"

That gave me pause for thought as I wondered how that would look for me but I pushed it to the back of my mind as Uncle Art continued relating his side of the story.

"Edgar and Allegro have been arrested but I have to say that both of them seem to be saying that Eldrich was the driver of the team. He was certainly the more violent one of the brothers and seems to be responsible for the deaths of the three men here in Trenton. He was very clever how he planned things out, how he controlled the people in his team but from the evidence we can tie all three of them to the theft of jewels and in Allegro's case to their sale and distribution. Allegro has a superficial wound but Interpol are determined that both will stand trial and be held accountable"

It seemed then that everything had been tied together and hopefully neither Allegro or Edgar would see the light of day, though I wasn't certain which country would be responsible for doing that. As I thought through what had been said there were still questions that I wanted answers to and looking at Uncle Art he seemed to realize that.

"What was in the box?"

Because it seemed that the box had been very important to Edlrich so I wanted to know why that was.

"Passports and id's that would have enabled them to travel but also a running account of the jobs that had been done. We found records of accounts for where they'd hidden the money though there was no record of who had been sold any of the jewels"

"Tomas?"

I asked because somehow he'd been involved with them as well and to be honest, I was partly saddened and annoyed with his involvement.

"Tomas Mele knew that Allegro was retrofitting the stolen gems into jewelry, but he was never involved with the thefts or the movement of the jewelry. He maintains that it was Edgar who had hidden you and Grant in that ghost town with Edgar insisting that Tomas freed the both of you after he'd left the country. I think that Tomas was scared at how deranged and violent Eldrich was and made the decision that he wanted nothing to do with them. He's facing charges for kidnapping and accessory to theft. The courts may go easy on him for exchange of information"

I wasn't sure how I felt about that because I had never had any concerns for my safety with Tomas but knew that he'd made choices that he was now going to have to live with. I shook my head as Uncle Art continued to look at me not having any more questions that needed an answer though sure that if I had then I might never learn the answers. Resigned with that knowledge I watched as papers were exchanged across the room, most of them being passed to Grant. I knew that he was responsible for a lot of the evidence collected so assumed that he would continue with liaising with Interpol. It was at that moment that the door opened and Ella brought in a trolley with food and drinks in, making me realize that in my rush to be here to meet Joe I had forgone any breakfast.