Chapter 3

Marco's POV

I've been training Stephanie for the past month. It was remarkable how much she had already learned before arriving here. Stephanie had confessed that she was training with the men at Rangeman. "My training was limited," Stephanie stated.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "You've got a lot of skills already."

"They were too afraid Ranger would take them to the mats if they hurt me, so they were more reserved during training. You don't have the same issues because you, my dear brother, are kicking my ass," Stephanie replied.

I laughed at her assessment. It was too funny that the hard-assed Ranger would let the men handle one of his employees delicately. Stephanie had already told me the story about her relationship with Ranger. I wanted to kick his ass for the stupid deal to get her into bed. Her excuse that it was something she had wanted was silly.

After she had gone to bed the first night, I tapped into my resources to collect more information about Stephanie. The amount I had uncovered was astounding. She had more car explosions and apartment mishaps than any person I had known. It was time for me to resume my birth identity. I want everyone to know that I'm Stephanie's twin. I'm proud to be her brother. Stephanie needed to know I was proud to be a relative, and she could never disappoint or embarrass me.

"Hey, son," Sam greeted, answering the phone.

"Dad, I want to resume my rightful name," I announced.

"Sure. You know the Army and Delta Force are aware of your true identity," Sam reminded me.

"Great. I want the name of Marco Edward Barker redacted from all of my military records," I stated.

"It will take a few weeks, but I'll get the process started. Your birth name would get withheld from the records. Do you plan to seek employment with Rangeman?" Sam asked.

"No. I have enough money to last three lifetimes," I replied, reminding Sam of my independent wealth.

"You also are my heir. I'll update my will."

"It isn't necessary. If you need to leave your money to anyone, give it to my sister, Stephanie," I said.

We talked for a few minutes before ending the call. Once Stephanie got fully trained, we'd return to Trenton, and I'd be her partner at the Bond's office. Protecting my sister became my top priority.

Through chatter on the deep web, I learned an enemy of Ranger's was after Stephanie. Ranger and Jeanne Ellen went back undercover to use an enemy family to go after Gomez. They were wasting their time. The way to hit Gomez was head-on. If someone took out Gomez, his clan would disperse. There was no honour among thieves and drug lords. They used the concept that the enemy of your enemy is your friend.

I contacted my friends to help me eliminate the threat against my sister. Charlie and Hawk volunteered to watch her apartment from the parking lot. My buddies Buck and Tim would rent the apartment across the hall. The old man previously living there had passed away in his sleep, and they had trouble renting the unit close to Stephanie. I laughed when the superintendent, Dillon, warned them about catastrophes occurring in apartment 215.

Buck startled me from my thoughts when he moved into the unit and called. "Hey, there are cameras in the hall and on the fire escape outside that apartment. What's going on?"

Laughing, I said, "Rangeman must have added security to the unit without her knowledge. Give me a few days, and I'll see if Stephanie can get it removed."

"Ten-four," Buck said before hanging up.

I found Stephanie in her zone, running on the treadmill. For someone who hates running, she's been clocking ten miles each day. Moving into her line of sight, I waited for her to remove her earphones and slow her pace. "What's up?" she asked.

"When do you contact Tank next?" I wondered.

She looked at the clock and gasped. "Shit. I was supposed to text Tank ten minutes ago," Stephanie said, stopping the treadmill. "Huh. I ran fifteen miles today."

"You should be proud of yourself, sis," I said. She grinned and asked why I interrupted her routine. "My buddies said someone installed cameras on your apartment door and fire escape."

I could see the anger building on her face. "Can I make a phone call on your phone?" Stephanie asked. I nodded, handing her my secure, untraceable phone. She angrily dialled the number to call her friend.

"Yo," I heard through the phone's speaker. Stephanie wanted me to listen to the call. She placed a finger on her lip to ensure I remained quiet.

"Tank. It's Steph. Listen to me, Big Guy. Remove the damn cameras from my apartment. Now!" Stephanie ordered.

"How did you know?" Tank asked.

"I have my sources. Get. Them. Off. My. Apartment. Now," she ground out. I heard Tank sigh before agreeing. Stephanie waited until Tank called a man named Hector to remove all cameras and recording devices in and around her apartment. "I'll have someone check to make sure the work got done. If anyone replaces them, I will take them to the mats. Trust me, Tank. I will not go easy on them. In case you missed the huge clue, I don't want to have anything to do with Ricardo Carlos Manoso or Rangeman."

Stephanie hung up the phone and walked to the punching bag. After taping her knuckles, she pummelled the bag until her arms were too weak to continue. I helped her remove the tape and ran a hot bath with Epsom salts and peppermint oil for her.

"Thanks, Marco," she replied before climbing into the tub. She didn't care about stripping naked in front of me. I should feel awkward about seeing my sister without clothes, but I never thought to divert my attention from her face.

"I'm changing my name back to Marco Frances Plum. You can call me Marc, okay, sis?"

"Sure, Marc, as long as you call me Steph. I think I'm in trouble whenever someone calls me Stephanie. Sorry for stripping in front of you," she said before I left the bathroom. "I'll try remember to wait until you leave the room."

"I didn't look anywhere but at your face," I replied through the door. My sister was slowly getting over Manoso.

"I know, Marc. I trust you completely," she said. "I wasn't sure I could get into the tub without falling. I'll holler if I need help."

Tank's POV

I couldn't believe the fire I heard in Stephanie's voice. She sounded fierce. There was no doubt in my mind that she'd follow through on her threat. Hector had informed me, within the hour, that the surveillance on Stephanie's apartment got removed. He was not happy about her apartment not getting monitored, but I was more afraid of Stephanie's wrath than Ranger or Hector at the moment.

Ranger checked in as scheduled, but I refused to mention anything regarding Stephanie when he asked. "What aren't you telling me?" Ranger demanded.

"Nothing, Ranger. You are married. Asking about the woman you forced to be your mistress is not part of your mission," I replied.

"Stephanie doesn't know my marriage is legal," Ranger snarled.

"You couldn't be more wrong. She knows and wants nothing to do with you or Rangeman," I replied. Ranger screamed obscenities before I reminded him that he should be concentrating on his mission and not a woman back home. If Gomez or his men heard Ranger's rants, they would increase their efforts to find Stephanie.

I was angry Ranger took away Stephanie's choices. Before making the stupid deal with her, Ranger learned Stephanie and Dickie Orr's marriage ended because Dickie cheated. It didn't dissuade Ranger from forcing Stephanie into the role of the "other woman," which I knew she would hate. I thought he had mentioned he was married before sleeping with the woman.

Stephanie called me on a Thursday evening, surprising me with the unexpected call. "Yo," I answered.

"Hey, Tank. Um. I have a question, but I need you to answer me honestly," she said.

"Okay. Go ahead, little girl," I replied.

"Did you know Ranger and Jeanne Ellen were legally married?" Stephanie surprised me by asking.

"Yes," I answered.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked. I could hear the hurt in her voice.

"It wasn't my story to tell. I've told Ranger he needed to tell you before your first night together," I explained. "Because it was part of their military cover, I was sworn to secrecy."

"That's what I thought. I know you wouldn't betray my trust, but I'm hurt that you didn't tell me anyways. I've got somewhere to go, so I can't contact you for a few weeks. Stay safe, Tank," Stephanie said before hanging up. I couldn't help feeling that I'd lost the woman I loved.

Lester peeked into my office after I ended the call with Stephanie. Seeing the look of anguish on my face, he asked, "What happened?"

"Stephanie asked if I knew Ranger was married," I replied. "I told her the truth."

"Oh. Stephanie's going to be mad at you for a while," Lester stated knowingly. "What else did she say?"

"She's going on a trip and can't contact me for a few weeks." I rubbed my face and added, "I've lost her."

"You don't know that," Lester wisely stated. "Stephanie would eventually forgive you."

I wasn't convinced she would. Infidelity was unforgivable according to Stephanie. She would place me in the same category as Ranger. Stephanie knows it was part of his military cover, so there was a small chance she'd forgive me.

"Give her time, Tank," Lester quietly said before leaving my office.

Stephanie's POV

I ended the call with Tank, feeling betrayed by my gentle giant. Marc removed the phone from my hand and shut it off. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'll be fine, Marc. I'm disappointed that Tank knew about Ranger's marriage and didn't tell me. I thought we were friends," I replied.

"Steph, when you first slept with Ranger, were you close to his men?"

"No."

"Then why would you expect them to betray their boss, commanding officer and friend?" Marc asked. I wiped a tear from my face, realizing he was right. The guys barely knew me despite the few times we worked together on distractions or at Rangeman.

"I guess I've been unfair to Tank. He didn't deserve my harsh words," I confessed.

"We need to leave if we want to arrive in time," Marco stated. He grabbed my hand to pull me through another exit from his home.

During the past two months, I used the programs to research Armando Gomez. I had learned an important connection between Gomez and Cortez that nobody discovered during the intel gathering. Ranger had killed Armando's brother, Ernesto, during one of his missions. Armando decided I would be the best to kill as retribution for his brother's death. He was sighted in North Carolina, but I suspected he was already in Philadelphia and closing in on our location. Unfortunately, after I helped rescue Julie from Scrog, everyone of Ranger's enemies could like me to the mercenary.

Marco agreed with my assessment regarding Armando's location. His spidey sense, as I called it, indicated he was too close for comfort. He was surprised I discovered the relationship between the two men. When I described how I uncovered that important tidbit, he contacted his uncle to give him the news. If Ranger wasn't careful, he would be killed. With my rigorous training, I was confident I could watch my brother's back as we neutralized the threat. We recruited Charlie and Hawk to assist.

General Barker was aware we were moving in on Ranger's current mission. He wasn't impressed that Ranger and Burrows didn't make any headway with Juan Cortez despite his attraction to Jeanne Ellen. Every day Gomez had an opportunity to attack me was one day too many.

"Woah," Charlie said when he met us at the back of Marco's property. "You two look nearly identical."

I smiled before asking, "So asking Marco to cut my hair was a good idea?"

"Absolutely," he replied. "I'm Charlie. The dude behind me is Hawk." I finger-waved at Hawk before following Marco through the forest.

After a few miles, we opened an abandoned garage to collect the Jeep hidden within its depth. I got dressed in black cargo pants, shirt, Kevlar, CAT boots and I had four guns and three knives strapped to my body. Charlie checked my weapons before we left with the Jeep. "I'm fine," I snapped.

"Do you know how to use the guns?" Hawk asked.

"She hit 100 percent of the targets in my range," Marco stated. Charlie whistled. "Don't let her girlish figure trick you. Steph can throw her knives with insane accuracy."

"Sweet," Hawk stated. "Any chance you'd go on a date with me when we get back?"

"Nope," I replied. "Done wasting my time dating military men with contracts."

We ended the conversation once we opened the door to leave. Everyone climbed into the Jeep without fighting for the shotgun position. Marco took the driver's seat. I sat beside him with Charlie, and Hawk covering us in the backseat. Each of us had our hand on a weapon, ready for attack.

As we got closer to our destination, I tapped my brother's arm and motioned to pull off into the bush. He turned off the engine, allowing the Jeep to coast to a stop. We quietly exited the car and covered it with a tarp. Once we were satisfied our vehicle was concealed, we hiked towards the cabin where we located Gomez.

I felt a shiver move through my body before dropping to the ground. Marco, Charlie and Hawk immediately dropped with me. In my earbud, Marco whispered, "Status?"

"Danger trees," I whispered and pointed forward. Charlie nodded before moving towards the area. He noticed a tripwire a few inches off the ground. Following the line, he located the guns hidden in the trees, attached to each end of the wire. We would have been ripped to shreds from the bullets if we walked into the trap. Charlie used his pliers to clip the wire, rendering the guns safe.

We moved slower than we wanted, but Charlie and Hawk kept searching the trees for more traps. A few yards from the cabin, I felt someone pull me from behind. "It was nice of your friends to deliver the lamb to the slaughter," a cold voice whispered. Thankfully, my earbud was in my left ear, not my right. Gomez used the knife in his left hand to cut the straps of my thigh holsters, causing my guns and knives to fall to the ground.

I could hear Marco whisper, "Stay calm. We've got you."

"Who are you?" I asked as I moved my right hand to grab the switchblade in my pocket.

"Your worst nightmare. I'll send your eyes to Manoso as evidence of your death," he said while underestimating my ability to escape his grasp.

I punched Gomez in the crotch and pressed the button to release the blade. He screamed in agony as he dropped to the ground and pulled the trigger of his gun. I felt the bullet hit my right shoulder blade. The pain was beyond anything I had felt before. Kevlar was effective at a distance, but this close was bound to give me some injuries.

Gunfire erupted around me as Marco, Charlie and Hawk disabled Gomez's men. I feigned dead as one man approached me. He reached for my zipper as I grasped the gun beside me. As he concentrated on undoing my pants, I raised the gun. "Not today, asshole," I said before pulling the trigger.

"No," Marco screamed as he ran towards me. He shot another man above my head. I felt the spray of warm blood on my face before a heavy body collapsed on top of me. Hawk was immediately at my side, pulling the men off me before I suffocated. He pulled wet wipes from his pocket to remove the blood from my face.

Charlie assessed my shoulder injury while Marco took photos of the men we shot. He left Charlie with me to treat my wound and moved towards the cabin with Hawk. They found evidence that seven men, including Gomez, stayed inside the cabin. We had ten dead bodies outside the structure. As Charlie removed my shirt to clean my shoulder, I pulled the gun from his thigh holster and shot the man approaching us on the left. "I got you, asshole," I muttered.

"Great job, Steph. I think we've got them all," he said before pouring something on my shoulder. "Sorry. I've got to remove the bullet. It's going to hurt."

"Get it over with," I said between clenched teeth. I felt a sharp tug and gasped when Charlie poured more antiseptic on my wound. He quickly sutured the hole before placing compression bandages over the injury. "Thanks, Charlie."

"No problem. It looks like you've been shot before," he stated.

"A few times. The worst was in my left butt cheek," I said. "I can handle keeping my arm immobilized but not being able to sit properly sucked."