Chapter 12

SPOV

I was at a loss what to do the following morning, not feeling comfortable with just lazing around. I felt that time was slipping away from me and to be honest was desperate to get my life back to normal. Normal, well maybe not the normal that had been following me around for the last few weeks but normal so that I could see my friends and family. I had no idea what could happen to me now, would I be arrested and locked up in prison? I couldn't cope with that line of thinking and was about to retrieve the book from under the mattress to start looking back at the photos that Arthur had given to me when a short knock sounded from the front door interrupting my thoughts.

I walked through to the lounge and watched as Maria opened the door surprised when Nico walked in behind her and he came and sat down opposite me. Now don't get me wrong I really liked Nico but him being here had me very wary of what was going to happen. Had Alex decided that I was too much trouble and was making me leave? If that happened, I had no idea of where I could go.

"Don't look so worried. Mr Ramos sent me over to work out how we could get a letter to Mr Manoso"

Relief surged through me on hearing his words and instantly I was thinking of how we could accomplish that. A letter arriving at Rangeman by hand would be too obvious and by post could take too long. Maybe asking one of his men might work but as I remembered Jenny telling me about Rangeman equipment being used on those buildings then I wasn't sure if a letter would get to him. Shit, was I saying there was someone working on the inside of Rangeman? Maybe I was.

"His housekeeper, Ella. She goes to a store that sells fresh fruit and vegetables every day, I could trust her to pass on a letter to Ranger"

The quantity of fresh produce that Ella bought every day amazed me. I mean I knew that she always provided healthy meals and I suppose with the number of men she was feeding those meals to meant large quantities. She probably bought more fresh produce in one day than my mother did in a year. My thoughts were digressing so looking back at a smiling Nico knew that I needed to give him more information.

"She's usually there by 8 in the morning and she should have a Rangeman with her. She's small with dark hair that's greying, styled into a short bob. You'll find she moves fast around the store, while she chooses what the manager has to box up and deliver. She's a lovely woman really"

I wanted to add that she was caring and always looked out for me, making sure that there were always things at Rangeman whenever I stayed there, including the contraband of sugary items that she had hidden for me in the top of one of Ranger's cupboards.

I almost sighed, missing Ella, then took some paper and an envelope from Nico's hand before he stood up to leave.

"I'll be back in an hour"

A look at the time had my head whizzing back to the clock just to be sure that I'd read the right time. No wonder Mylo still wasn't up, I shouldn't be up, because it was only 6 in the morning. I blamed my time spent underground for messing with my body's clock or maybe it was because I'd gone to bed at the same time as Mylo last night.

Sat at the table with a pen in my hand I was finding it really difficult to know what to write to Ranger. I wanted to say that I missed him but wasn't too sure if that would be pushing my feelings a little too far. Would he be as worried about me as I thought? I hoped that he was, I mean he always had worried about me in the past. I decided to just write the words as they came to me, there was no way I could construct a letter to him. It wasn't how I worked, and he knew me well enough to understand what I wanted to say.

Ranger.

I'm sorry for getting myself into such a stupid situation, I never saw it coming. All I was trying to do was bring in an FTA. Maybe they were right, maybe I'm just not cut out to do that job. Something that I'll need to think about if I ever get out of this trouble that I've landed myself in.

It seems though that this FTA saw himself as a bit of a hero and he started digging into things that were far more dangerous than he imagined. He knew that he was out of his depth and had this stupid idea that I could help him to unravel the puzzle. I had no choice and ended up running and hiding. I didn't shoot him and can't understand why the police would think that I did.

The clues that my FTA left for me, well they worry me with the extent of the insidious activities that may be happening, but my feeling is that there is as an agenda that is yet to become clear.

I've had many arguments with myself over contacting you and to start with I didn't want to drag you yet again into my problems. Now I think that maybe you are already unwittingly involved, please be careful because I think that you are being used, drawn in, to suit someone else's needs.

Charlie wrote this to me and I'm thinking that he was very astute with what he was thinking.

The spider's web. The network spread by a spider. Tangles of silken threads of a spiderweb usually covered with accumulated dirt. Something that entangles, obscures, or confuses. Threads woven into the fabric of the society around us.

I'm sorry I worried you a few days ago, to be honest it frightened me, being on that roof and being shot at. Jumping off the garage roof as a kid came into my mind. I'm fine, just a few bumps and bruises, no broken bones.

I miss seeing you and talking to you, having you there to calm me down and comfort me.

I have to finish now, time for this to be delivered. Give my apologies to Ella, it seemed the safest way to get this to you.

Steph.

It took me an hour to stop berating myself for what I'd written or not written. I never had been good at writing letters, maybe I wasn't good at talking either. I handed the sealed envelope over to Nico wondering when it would be passed on to Ella. Maybe it would be this morning, but I wasn't counting on that.

Having Mylo and Lucas around cheered me up while we had some breakfast and then we each had something quiet to do. Lucas was catching up with his homework while Mylo was happy reading, so I'd gone back to my room and removed the book and photos from Charlie to start reading through it again. For some reason I didn't want to take the book from the bedroom, afraid that maybe someone would see it and start to ask questions. I was oblivious to my surroundings, and I jumped when Maria appeared next to me.

"Lucas loves going there"

I looked from Maria to the photo in my hand wondering what this place was if Maria knew about it.

"Where is it?"

"South of Trenton, maybe 30 minutes from here"

"What's there?"

"Oh it's an indoor play center"

It must have been quite new, because I'd never heard of it, maybe Charlie had taken Mylo there. But why would he include a photo of it?

"We could take the boys there this afternoon. They'll love it"

I was lost for words as Maria said that and then walked out of the room. I wasn't too sure that I wanted to go there in case it turned out to be somewhere that Charlie had identified as another place that was being used for moving drugs. As I thought it through though, I decided that there would be families there and I was sure that Nico would be with us. Maybe it was a different type of clue, I could go with that idea.

After a light lunch we were in an SUV heading toward the play center called Play world. Discussions between Mario, Nico and myself, had us agreeing that it would be safe but only if I disguised my looks. I think the two boys were too excited to notice that I was now wearing a spiky brown wig and brown contact lenses. I was decked out in gym wear, courtesy of Alex's ex wife, not sure whether or not I was looking forward to this. Hell, I'd spent the last four years avoiding going anywhere near a gym. The thought of running wasn't my idea of fun, unless of course I had the incentive of seeing Ranger in front of me.

I recognized the building as Nico pulled into the parking area and saw the sign for the center facing us. Looking around at the building I didn't see any signs of them using a security system. I only hoped that this place was what was advertised and not some secret shit place. Walking from the car I actually felt calm, maybe it was because of my disguise or the fact that my spidey senses were unusually quiet.

Maria had prebooked our time here, so we were soon moving through the reception area into a seating area that overlooked the play area. Of course, Lucas and Mylo ran through the adjoining gate and were soon running around the myriad of slides, swings and climbing areas. Me, I was staring at the climbing ropes at the end of the hall. Captivated by the image that it portrayed.

The ropes were thick and blue and formed a circle that grew smaller as they wove in a circle toward the center, but what caught my attention was the large insect hung there, a spider. I was looking at a spider sat in her web. Of course, my mind went into overdrive on seeing it. Charlie had said that he'd found places to hide the evidence, some of the photos had nothing to do with what he'd found out or places that he suspected, they were where he had hidden things for me to find.

Looking around I found Mylo and watched as he slid down a bumpy slide. I was soon there holding out my hand to him.

"How about climbing the ropes Mylo?"

Maybe if I had Mylo to help up the ropes then it wouldn't make me look like a wimp, okay who was I kidding? Stood on the large inflated platform it looked a long way up to the top. At least the bouncy platform would give me a soft landing. It reminded me of the ropes where Mary Lou and I used to play on when we were kids so with that in mind I tentatively held onto a rope and put one foot onto the first rung.

It's amazing how childhood skills come back to you, like riding a bike. Once you've learnt how to pedal and keep your balance it becomes second nature. Mylo kept up with me, rung for rung until we were on opposite sides of the spider. I was busy trying to figure out where the hell something could be hidden in this giant plastic spider. The legs were round and too thin which only left the body and head. I took a closer look at the head because somewhere in my mind was a saying, that to defeat evil you have to cut off the head. I was stood, leaning sideways on the rope and used one hand to move the head, pleased when it seemed to lift from the body. The problem I had was that it was too big to move it properly so looping one leg through over the rope I tackled the problem with both hands.

The head moved but so did I, both of us suddenly heading down toward the platform. Screaming as I fell reminded me of the last time that I had fallen from a height and I was petrified of hurting myself again. I landed on my back, bouncing a few times on the platform before I stopped moving. I had the spider's head firmly held in my hands on my stomach. As I laid there, I opened my eyes, Mylo's smiling face appeared above as did two of the supervisors.

"Are you alright, Ma'am?"

"Fine, sorry, I must've slipped and grabbed hold of this"

Hell, I hoped there weren't cameras watching what I'd been up to. I rolled over, keeping a tight grip of the head and spotted the hole where it sat on top of the body. My hand went inside, touching paper, which I quickly pulled out. Of course, the two supervisors were trying to help me to stand up and suddenly the paper was taken from my hand.

I turned see Mylo looking at me with a serious expression on his face and watched as he patted his stomach. Standing up, the head was taken from me and I watched as one of the supervisors skillfully climbed the frame until he was above the body and then slid it down gracefully until the spider was in one piece. Okay, maybe I should have climbed higher, it might have made it easier. But what the hell, I'd found something, and I was sure it had been put there by Charlie.

"Ma'am, maybe you should just sit in the seating area and watch your son as he plays"

Mylo took my hand and together we slid down the bouncy platform onto the floor and walked over to where Maria was sat. It didn't go unnoticed by me, Mylo sliding an envelope from under his shirt and into my bag.

"Are you alright, you look a bit pale?"

I just smiled at Maria because to be honest my ribs were killing me. I wasn't going to shorten our time here so sat back as we watched the boys playing, with what the supervisor had said going through my mind. She'd thought Mylo was my son and to be honest I actually felt proud when she'd said that. But he wasn't my son, soon he'd go back to Charlie, so I needed to pull away from him before my emotions got involved and he ended up getting hurt because of me.

I couldn't wait to get back to the house, to look at what I'd found. Getting out of the car, Maria and Lucas headed toward where they lived, while Mylo and I started to walk around the house toward our rooms. My steps became quicker, until we were both running, racing to see who would get there first. I got to the door first, laughing, and opened it coming to a complete standstill. I couldn't believe who was stood there and I think I surprised both of us when I continued to run and jumped up into his arms.

RPOV

I read that letter a few times before folding it and replacing it in the envelope. Yes. I'd followed what she was saying, and I knew that she'd got caught up in something to do with her FTA. But I was trying to find the meaning behind her words. How she had started didn't sound like her, didn't sound like the spunky woman that I knew. She sounded beaten and not about what she was doing, but about herself. Her words weren't lost on me, or who had probably been berating her, her mother and Morelli. Was that part of the reason that she hadn't contacted me sooner or were the reasons she gave legitimate?

That she was worried about me and Rangeman gave me hope for her, but hell she was so astute with her instincts. I'd only just discovered we were being manipulated and had someone inside Rangeman and here she already knew.

I knew that she hadn't shot Watson but maybe Steph wasn't aware of the evidence that the police had against her. I'd already been in touch with my lawyer just in case. I admitted that Steph didn't always look before she leaped, but this time it really wasn't her fault.

I found it interesting that Watson had been trying to find out information, but maybe him meeting a son that he didn't know about had triggered that behavior. The need to help the mother and son had obviously uncovered things that he might never have known about.

That he had blatantly expected Steph to help him annoyed me, if he'd done his research on her then he would know that she couldn't help but get involved, that's who she was, that's what made her special.

Her final sentences though, showed her emotions. I missed seeing her and talking to her and though she would never believe me, she had the ability to calm me and comfort me as well. The number of times that I had broken into her apartment to watch her sleep, because doing that helped to calm my demons. She had no idea how much power she held over me and I needed her now, probably as much as she needed me.

Once down on five I was surprised to find men waiting for me in my office, it wasn't the greeting that I was used to. I sat at the table waiting to know what the fuck was so important.

"Jayce and Tali are on their way down. They were keen to help and find out why Trenton was the head office"

I hadn't expected that to have happened so quickly but felt a sense of relief knowing we'd have the additional help. That part of their reason for helping was about Trenton being the head office didn't sit well with me, and to be honest it wasn't something that I was prepared to start discussing with the men.

"Set up one of the safe houses for them. How will you communicate with them?"

"Hector's taken over with that. He reckoned that if he was letting them play with some of his toys then he wanted to know exactly who they were"

At the way that Santos had said that I was guessing that he was relieved. Hector would get on fine with them, but it did make me wonder why Santos had passed that job over to Hector. As we were all here then I continued with our meeting, the early morning meeting wasn't due for another hour and we probably needed a plan in motion before then.

"Anything from the teams Tank?"

"Bravo found one apartment building. They kept surveillance on it and it's a fucking whore house"

I closed my eyes at hearing that, no wonder Juadyn was pissed with me.

"What we gonna do Ranger?"

It was very tempting to go over there and rip the box off the building, but it wouldn't help in finding out who was responsible. It also made me think of what Steph had said and Walker's definition of a spider's web. Was there more going on here than we first imagined?

"Find the rest first and let's see what the girls come up with. Tank I'm going off line"

If Tank was surprised, he didn't say anything, and the rest of the guys knew better than to ask what I was going to be doing. As far as I was concerned it was time to find my Babe.

Steph probably didn't realize that we covered the security for the store that Ella used. I pulled up the camera images for before the time when Ella would have arrived and watched the cars as they came into the parking area. Ella had given me a good description of the man, so I knew who I was looking for. I spotted him at 0800hrs. getting out of a white Mercedes SUV. A look at the plates left me with no doubt of exactly where Steph was hiding.

An hour later I was stood in front of a large cream colored house that I remembered as being painted pink. A pull of the bell had summoned a large well armed man who had simply stood there staring at me.

"I think that Mr Ramos will see me, Carlos Manoso"

He'd turned and closed the door leaving me stood alone outside again. When the door opened a few minutes later there were two men now, one I recognized as being the man who had passed on the note to Ella. I raised my arms for the inevitable pat down that I was sure would happen. I wasn't stupid, all of my weapons were in the lockbox in my Porsche which was parked to one side of the drive. It wouldn't be wise to meet with a man who traded weapons fully armed.

"Mr Ramos will see you in his office"

I stepped past the door keeper and followed the other man into a large lobby, the furnishings emphasizing just how much money Ramos made. Marble floors and a sweeping staircase couldn't detract from the ornate artwork on the walls, or the large bold sculptures scattered around. The man led me to an open door and then stepped to one side, allowing me to walk past him. The room was traditional with a wall of books in oak cases and a deep red thick carpet. I thought the color fitting as I looked beyond the desk and saw Ramos. For an office the only item giving it away was the computer screen and phone on his desk, no papers or stationery, littered the area. As I walked toward him, he stood up and walked around the desk his hand extended as he greeted me.

"Mr Manoso, an unexpected pleasure"

"Mr Ramos"

He turned toward an area that held four individual chairs surrounding a coffee table, indicating with a wave of his arm that we'd be sat there. I sat down and observed Ramos as he lowered himself into his seat. He looked a lot better than he had done the last time that I'd had need to see him, he was more alert and dressed better, his skin had color in it, probably from the sun, and he looked relaxed.

"Better times Ranger since we last met. That son of mine, he would have bled me dry or maybe even killed me off"

I nodded my head as I remembered the time that Homer had tried to frame me for his murder and how Steph had helped, hell she even managed to help Ramos escape for interludes when he was being drugged by his sons.

"Why are you here Ranger?"

"To see Stephanie"

"What makes you think that she's here?"

I wasn't too sure why Ramos was making this so hard, but I'd give him the answers.

"The clothes that she was wearing when I saw her on that roof"

"Women are very good at finding suitable clothes"

"The fake blood on her scarf that I assume came from the bullet proof vest that she was wearing"

"Go on"

Damn he was making this difficult.

"The man who passed the note to my housekeeper. I recognized the car that he was driving. We provide security for the store so I looked at the footage from the parking area"

"I concede that you have excellent detective skills, but why should I trust you?"

I sat back in my chair as I considered what Ramos was asking. Was he also aware of the rumors that were around town about Rangeman protecting an outsider who intended to cut into business areas currently run by the bosses? Maybe, afterall they had an agreement not to infringe on the others area of expertise.

"I don't take sides Ramos and at the moment someone is trying to involve me in something that I would never agree to"

"The rumors?"

"Not true. I'm currently working to identify what is going on and who it is"

"I have to say that I was surprised when I heard the talk around town"

I waited not sure where he would take the conversation to next, me I just wanted to be able to see Steph.

"Stéfani, she has an uncanny nature, a way of solving things. The other bosses want her to continue her work, they feel that she could resolve some of the issues that we're having"

I couldn't believe what he was saying, how could those men expect Steph to do that on her own?

"Not on her own. It's too dangerous and we don't know who is after her"

"What are you suggesting Ranger?"

"I'll work with her. I have the resources that would help"

If I didn't know better, I could have sworn that a slight smile threatened Ramos's lips. Had I just agreed to align myself with Ramos and the other bosses? Not a chance and he needed to know that I wasn't willing to do that.

"I'm doing this because whoever is in charge is trying to manipulate me and my company as being supportive of them. I don't particularly care who has control of the drugs, prostitution, gambling or arms as long as it's done quietly. These people are dangerous and there could be a lot of lives lost, there's more to this than just putting the bosses out of business."

"So, I ask again, why are you here?"

There was only one reason for that, and he needed to know.

"For Stephanie"

"We can protect her"

"Could you guarantee every man who works for Galbacci, Grisolli, Harry, Juadyn and Castillo is that loyal? Hell, as you know Grisolli's niece is in deep with Morelli. I'm sure she'd like nothing better than to see Stephanie caught by the police. I don't trust them"

"And you can protect her?"

"Yes. I always have and I'll continue to do so"

I wasn't too confident that Ramos was prepared to let Stephanie go, for some reason I was thinking that he and the others saw her as a means to an end. If he insisted that she stayed here then I'd work out a way to get her away and if I knew Steph, if she thought Ramos was keeping her here against her will in order to use her, she'd be sure to escape from his clutches.

"She stays here, the others don't know where she is, she'll be safe here. I've assigned Nico to keep her in his sights, her own bodyguard, to ensure her safety"

"How will I be able to help her then?"

Because there was no way I was going to abandon her here.

"Burn phones, they should work well"

That had me remembering the new phone in my pocket that I'd brought for her on the chance that I would actually get to see her.

"Then I need to see her"

Ramos didn't look very happy about that but even I could see that he didn't have a choice. Steph could only do so much on her own and Ramos knew it. As he stood up from his seat I also stood and then watched as a man came through the door.

"Take Mr Manoso to see Miss Plum"

I followed the man from the room and was led to the back of the house and out onto a decked area. I was very aware of just how many men Ramos had outside guarding the place. Walking around the pool we came to a small building where the man opened the door for me.

"Miss Plum should be here shortly"

Inside was a pleasant space, an open plan kitchen and lounge with several doors leading from a short hallway, no doubt the bedrooms. I scanned the room seeing small cameras hidden in a central light fixture and wondered if Steph knew she was being watched. I stood looking out of the window toward the pool when I heard laughter outside. The door opened and suddenly a woman who I didn't recognize was throwing herself at me.

As I felt arms around my neck, I knew immediately who it was, the feel of her as she molded her body to mine and how my heart rate increased. I held her tightly, not wanting to let her go and if it hadn't been the sound of a low growl emanating from in front of me, I wouldn't have.

As Steph slid down to the floor and moved to my side, my eyes fell on a small boy stood with his arms folded over his chest.