Chapter 15

SPOV

Sat in the back seat of an old corvette felt safe and for the first time I actually felt that something I'd planned had gone well. Okay, it went better than I thought it would, given that it was me. I'd asked a young couple who were on the beach if they could give us a lift back to Trenton. They'd been at the beach curious to know what would be there. I felt very self conscious sat here in the back with Mylo, and I didn't dare move or scratch the itch on my neck. The disguise seemed to have worked well enough, but I was just hoping that the eyelash glue came off easily. I'd discovered that Ramos's ex wife had a thing about using false eyelashes so there were loads of tubes of the glue that she would have used. I'd cut half an inch from the bottom of my hair and after covering the appropriate areas with the glue had added the hair to my face, giving me a pretty impressive beard and moustache. My hair was tightly wrapped underneath a hat so with the brown contact lenses and the plastic lenses of some sunglasses removed I think I looked the part. I hadn't had to pretend to struggle to walk. My ribs were hurting, and my ankle was throbbing from when I'd fallen off that wall.

My biggest regret was that by losing the jacket, I'd lost Ranger's phone. I knew I had the other phone in the rucksack, but it didn't have a sim card in. Mylo was across my knee asleep, the long blonde hair of the wig that he was wearing spread out over my knee and covering his face. I thought the pink ribbon finished off the look though I'm sure that Mylo disagreed. He got away with wearing his jeans and an ordinary jacket while I had gone braless with a thick sweater keeping me warm and wide legged jeans that were on the big side.

"You okay if we drop you off here?"

Came from the petite brunette sat in the front.

"Sure"

Yeah, I said as little as possible, trying to lower my voice had me almost whispering. I shook Mylo as the car came to a stop and we were soon stood on the sidewalk watching as it sped away. The question was what to now. I couldn't call Rangeman or turn up there, because Ranger had said they had an insider. It had been a while since I'd been into Rangeman so didn't know who that could be.

As I stood debating what to do, I looked around at where we were. The center of Trenton was quiet of traffic. I suppose since the area was mainly offices and a few shops people didn't really walk in this part of the city. I was pretty sure of where I was though, and an idea came into my head. If I walked to the end of this block and took a left, I was sure that I'd find the entrance to the main library. That had been one of Charlie's clues and if my memory served me right there had been a library card inside the rucksack.

I felt very conspicuous walking into that library, as though everyone was watching me. I had used the library in the past and remembered how their computer system worked so soon had the numbers for the books that were about spiders or arachnids. We followed the numbers around the shelves until we got to where we needed to be.

I couldn't believe there would so many books about spiders. Spiders that were found in different countries, their habitats and behavior, secret weapons of spiders and loads on how to look after one. Who would want to have a spider for a pet? A lot of people apparently judging from the number of books in front of us.

I started to take out the books one at a time, flicking through the pages in the hope that Charlie might have left something in them. It was hopeless, there were too many books and to be honest I couldn't see Charlie leaving important evidence in a book that just anyone might find. As I stepped back from the shelf I realized that Mylo wasn't with me anymore. How could I have not seen him leave? Probably because I wasn't used to having to think about being responsible for a child. This was why I would never be any good as a parent, I forgot about him and now I'd lost him.

I started to look up and down the aisles between the shelves starting to get a little worried about where Mylo might have gone. Could someone have sneaked up on him and taken him? I'd never had the feeling that we were being followed or watched. It seemed as though I'd walked around most of the library when I came to an open double door. Looking through I recognized it as the children's section and was hoping that Mylo was here, he did like books so maybe he'd got bored with standing around and watching me.

As I entered the room, I spied Mylo sat on the floor, slightly apart from a group of children, totally absorbed in the woman in front of them, who I presumed was a librarian. I listened for a moment recognizing the names of the characters, Fern, Zuckerman and Wilbur. The book was Charlotte's Web, a shortened version that I'd read to my nieces. Walking into the room I saw a large section dedicated to spiders. From fictional stories for all ages to interesting facts, all aimed for children to read. The way the display had been put together was very effective. Someone had used string to weave a web and then attached some books to it with the occasional toy spider in between. In the center of the web was a copy of the book, Charlotte's Web.

It made sense to me as a hiding place. Charlotte was often shortened to Charlie. I sat down at one of the small tables away from the children and found the new iPhone in the rucksack. I quickly went through the procedures needed to set it up knowing that I could log onto the Wi-Fi in the library and was ready to try and remove that book from the display. It was easier than I thought it would be to remove the book, it was held onto the strands with bulldog clips probably so as not to damage the book.

I took the book back to the table and slowly went through the pages not surprised when I came across two photographs. There was nothing written on the back so taking out the phone I took several pictures of them before replacing them in the book. The book went back on the display and the photos were sent via email to my email address before I deleted them from the phone.

Once the librarian had finished reading to the children, they slowly began to move, making their way through the double doors where parents were possibly waiting. I watched Mylo as he looked around, as his eyes caught sight of me. His smile had me smiling back at him before I stood up.

As he walked over to me, I got so worried about what we would do next. I couldn't expect him to sleep rough on the streets somewhere and to be honest the idea of that scared me shitless. What with the police looking for me and then Ramos and those other men and let's not forget all the loonies that came out after dark meant the streets were definitely not the place to be. So where would be safe? With Ranger, popped into my head. Yeah, even if he did have another woman around, I was sure that he would always make sure that I was safe. The problem I had was how to contact him without alerting the man that was working inside Rangeman. Even as I looked at the phone, I knew sending an email or message could be intercepted so switching it off I put it in the inside pocket of my jacket.

As we stepped out of the library it was already starting to get dark and my stomach was definitely complaining at how empty it was. Thinking of food had me thinking how much I would love a meatball sub but going anywhere near to Pinos would be a huge mistake because it was a place where the police would go after their shift.

Shorties did a good pizza and thinking of that place I knew it was where some of the Rangemen would sometimes go. What if I hung around Shorties until I saw one the guys that I knew really well and trusted? To me it sounded like a plan and seeing as I couldn't come up with anything better that's where I started to walk toward.

I didn't normally do much walking, I drove instead. It was faster, warmer and definitely safer. What would have been a twenty minute drive seemed to take hours, especially as I tried to avoid any larger streets that might have cameras. I was so tired as we turned into the small dark street where I knew Shorties was and to cap it all my ribs hurt, and my ankle was throbbing. If it hadn't been for Mylo I don't think I would have made it.

Once we went around the back to where the parking lot was my heart dropped. No big black SUVs were even parked there so the chances of any Rangemen being there was nonexistent. Undeterred and having no other ideas of what to do we found a corner at the back of the parking lot that was dark and snuggled up together sat on the ground leant against a wall.

Cars came and went, crowds disturbed the air around us with their loud shouting and the night sky became clear, with stars appearing above us. It had the effect on the temperature though and it wasn't long before I started to feel cold. I wasn't sure what time it was and didn't dare take out the phone to look just in case the light attracted the attention of someone. I knew from watching people on the streets how men could attack those they saw as down and out, and I definitely looked that way.

I was almost dozing off when I heard the engine of a large black truck roll into the parking area. I watched as the doors opened and while I couldn't see clearly who it was, that tingle that only happened when Ranger was nearby shot down my back. I was about to stand up and shout out to him when two things happened. Another black SUV turned up with a lot of men unloading from it and that woman walked out from the back door of Shorties, straight up to Ranger and wrapped her arms around his neck.

So sue me, I hesitated, logic told me that one of the men could have been the one that Ranger thought was betraying him. Did Ranger even know who that was yet? The illogical part of me didn't want to see Ranger with that woman so before I even had chance to second guess myself everyone was walking into Shorties. I felt so lost, so disheartened as I sat there on the outside while Ranger, his men and that woman were inside.

RPOV

As I walked onto five after what seemed an unsuccessful surveillance of Ramos's property, I noticed that Manning was on monitor duty. Having him in the building made it more difficult for the teams to meet, though I suppose we could keep an eye on him and see if he made a mistake. Santos and Ram were catching up on their sleep while Cal and Miguel were out at Deal. Slick and Hal would relieve them for the night shift.

I decided that my apartment was the most secure place to go through the report that Jayce and Tali had put together so messaged Tank to meet me up there and told the floor that I was offline unless an emergency came up.

Once Tank was with me, I used my laptop to airplay the video that Hector had sent me of the footage that Jayce had taken of Manning's activities of the previous day. The building he went to looked to have been renovated and as the camera scanned the area, I saw one of our Rangeman boxes on the side of the building. There was a restaurant on the ground floor that advertised fine French food with three floors above it. Jayce maneuvered the drone to allow a visual through windows, obviously being careful that anyone looking out of the window wouldn't catch a glimpse of it. By my reckoning there looked to be six apartments, all of them well finished with modern furnishings. At the appearance of a couple inside one in a kitchen area Tank filled me in on what he knew.

"Hector's running face recognition on anyone in the apartments. There are six apartments and according to the detail that Hector found when he hacked into the real estate computer, they were rented out to couples. But the name Manning didn't come up"

If Manning was occupying one of those apartments, then obviously the legal records looked to be inaccurate, unless of course he had a woman living there. I fast forwarded the remainder of the recording because all it showed was Manning preparing a meal, eating and then getting ready to go out. It was as he stopped to pick up some keys from a table that I stopped the image, because there on the table was a photograph and it looked to be one that had been taken while he was in service.

"Have Hector find out who the other men in the photo are"

I ignored the questioning look from Tank. Okay we all had photos like that but how many would you display in such a prominent position, unless they were men who were important to you.

Jayce had followed Manning from the apartment to Anansi gambling using the drone while Tali had followed by car. It had been Jayce who had found a suitable place to use the parabolic mic from, the rooftop of an adjacent building. While Jayce had been up there Tali was ready to follow him when he came back out.

Any information now came as a report with an attachment of a conversation they had managed to capture from an upstairs window.

From what Jayce could see from the drone, there were men going into the building with computer equipment making the cover of an online gambling enterprise plausible. From the rooftop she'd scanned the upper floors picking up muffled talking but had found who she thought was Manning in discussion with another man. As there was only sound it meant that she had no idea who Manning had been talking to but assured us that Hector had identified the voice as being Manning's through a voice recognition program, comparing it to his voice here at Rangeman.

Hector had the other voice but would need a comparison before identifying its owner. The sound had been cleaned up by Hector and given the distance and the barrier of a wall it came through amazingly well.

"What the fuck are you doing here. I told you it was too risky in case someone saw you"

"Relax, no one suspects anything. They're too busy looking for that Plum woman"

"They any idea where she's gone?"

"No, I don't think so, but Ranger, he's taken to disappearing off the grid"

I listened as Manning made that comment, surprised that he'd noticed. I would need to make sure that the whereabouts of both myself and the other teams were accounted for in some other way so as not to arouse his suspicions.

"He's probably running around Trenton checking out her old haunts"

"Maybe. How important is it that we find her first?"

Shit, so these people were looking for Steph.

"Very. That man Watson, we underestimated him. He had evidence that could bring us all down. If that woman spoke with Watson before he was shot, then she might know something or where he's hidden that evidence"

"We'll find it"

"Like you found anything at that house"

I was surprised that Manning thought the evidence would be with Watson in that house, he didn't know how ingenious Watson could be, but I had a feeling that Steph might actually know more than I had assumed. What was worrying me was that she might actually have the evidence they were talking about. Hadn't Steph written something about Charlie writing something?

"I'll find it"

"Maybe you should have thought about that before he was shot. You were supposed to get that evidence and destroy it"

"What happened wasn't intentional"

"The pair of you are supposed to be professional so how the hell is it not your fault"

So now we knew that Manning had been there when Watson had been shot, the question now was who was with him and which one of them had shot Watson?

"I admit that I made a mistake, I thought it would give us a way to get Watson to talk. As for that Plum woman we had no idea how the hell she got away"

At least they were unaware of the access to the tunnel, though it wouldn't do them any good now because there was nothing there for them to find.

"I hired you, and so far, I'm not impressed with your results"

I looked toward Tank, it also didn't go unnoticed by me that the man that Manning was talking to was high up in the organization.

"I'll finish the job"

Sounded like the reply of a petulant child to me, but it had me worrying what the job was that he had to finish.

"Do you think he'll try to finish Watson off?"

Came from Tank as the recording finished. I'd had the same thought, but it made me curious what type of man Manning was. He seemed to be the type of person who followed the money, regardless of the ethics of the job.

"Ranger?"

I looked at Tank as I thought through what needed to be done next.

"Have Watson's parents stayed with him at the hospital?"

"No, the father visits every day, the mother less frequently"

"Get Brown to arrange a transfer to somewhere more secure that deals with coma patients. I'm sure the father will agree to that"

I'd pay the costs to keep the man alive or at least ensure that he wasn't murdered. If he died and it looked to be a progression of his injuries then the search for Steph by the police would be ramped up, because they could very well try to charge her with his murder.

"What about Manning?"

"I think I'd like to see him locked up in one of our cells"

Tank raised his eyebrow at that and then laughed.

"You sure? I mean I'm in total agreement, but won't his other boss get suspicious if he suddenly disappears?"

I sat back on the couch and wiped my hands down my face. I hated having to hide things that were happening in my own company and building just to enable us to keep what we were doing under wraps. Yeah, Tank was right. If Manning disappeared, then the organization would know we were actively looking at them and that could put us in a precarious position.

"You're right"

Was as much as I was prepared to say, Tank could deal with how we managed Manning from now on.

"He's all yours"

"He's on early monitor duty this morning then I think he needs to go after a few skips with Brown"

That confused me, especially as Tank grinned as he said it. He was doing that a lot which only served to piss me off.

"Brown's going after some of Steph's regulars"

I didn't say anything just shook my head, knowing Brown he'd let Manning take point which could be interesting.

"Tonight, while he's occupied, I suggest we get some of the teams together, somewhere like Shorties. To Manning he'll see it as a normal after shift get together for a drink and pizza"

I nodded my head in agreement, after all the men probably deserved to have some time off. We'd all been working frantically to find Steph. I looked at the app on my phone feeling secure that at least I knew where she was.

I spent the afternoon working in my office, that should calm down any ideas that Manning had. The fact that I was running every search we had ever used to find out about him was becoming very frustrating. I had no idea who Manning was lying to, us or his other boss. I also started to run a more in depth search on the man who had originally been a co-owner of the night club Anansi, Robert Carpenter and his lookalike, Jonathan Denby, that had cropped up at Anansi Gambling. I had no doubt in my mind that they were one and the same man but had a need to know when the change of id had happened and why.

Both of the searches came up empty. Apparently, Robert Carpenter had died in an automobile accident four years ago, a few years after the club had been closed down, after his release from prison. Jonathan Denby had a history that stretched from birth to the present. Parents who had conveniently died of influenza and no brothers or sisters. An inheritance that looked to have been invested into Anansi Gambling. I referred everything to Silvio to see if he could find out anything more, if there was anything to find there were only two people who could do it. Silvio and Steph.

Before leaving with Tank for Shorties I tried to call the phone that I'd given to Steph, only for it to go to voice mail yet again. It was beginning to annoy me that I hadn't been able to talk to her since seeing her at Ramos's. It seemed that Ramos had no intention of providing her with another phone so that we could work together as suggested. So what the hell was going on. In the morning I was going out there and demanding to see her, I didn't give a shit what excuses Ramos gave to me.

I drove my black truck with Tank in the passenger seat, not relishing the thought of being at Shorties. It wasn't something that I particularly enjoyed doing, but as Tank had said we needed to show some sort of normality in what we were doing. Parking in the lot near to the back door I was soon out of the truck with Tank catching up to me when something had me stop, a feeling of being watched maybe. One of the Rangeman SUVs pulled in and parked next to us and my attention was drawn toward the back door.

"Carlos, I'm so pleased that you managed to get here"

The voice of Tali had me looking at her smiling face before I gave Tank a death glare.

What the hell was she doing here?

"Don't blame me. Santos thought the other team members should know who was

working with us"

Came from Tank as we continued to walk into the back of the restaurant. As Tali tired to greet me in a way that made me extremely uncomfortable, I separated my self from her as I spoke to Tank.

"Where is Santos?"

I asked curious as to why he wasn't already here.

"He was watching the cam from the SUV with Brown and Manning in. Said that those skips of Steph's were running circles around him, just like they do with her"

That at least was worth smiling at as I continued to a booth at the back of the restaurant.

"Brown's told him that tonight is part of his assessment, how he manages bringing in skips in the field"

I had Tank sat next to me, pleased that Jayce and Tali were sat away from me. It gave me an opportunity to watch how some of the men interacted with them. Tali as usual was flirting whilst Jayce was sat quietly observing. Pizzas and pitches of bear were ordered, though I still ordered my usual salad and water.

As the food started to arrive, Shorty bent down toward me and surprised me with what he was telling me.

"There're some bikers turned up, they're bad news, any chance you can dissuade them from coming in here"

I nodded my head and looked to Tank who knew straight away that there was trouble. Without a word I stood up from the table and with Tank behind me made for the back door.

"Something up, Ranger?"

Came from Ram who had obviously been watching us. I shook my head at him and continued walking, I was in the mood to beat some sense into a load of bikers. I knew that Shorty had some issues with them turning up but even after refusing to serve them they kept coming back. They were loud, vulgar and drank too much and whilst the patrons here are Shorties weren't always model citizens those bikers upset other people and usually ended up doing damage.

Outside I watched as four bikes circled the cars in the parking lot, the engines and shouts disturbing what was a peaceful evening. As Tank and I started to walk forward I followed where they were going and as they started to move toward the back of the lot, was curious at what they were doing. Bright lights flashed across where we were and turning, I was aware of one of my SUVs pulling into the lot. That's when I realized that something had caught the attention of the bikers. Two had dismounted their bikes and were walking toward the wall. We were close enough now to hear them shouting back at the other two still astride their bikes.

"Hey, lookey here"

"What you found man?"

"Some homeless shit and a pretty little kid"

I watched as one man grabbed hold of a kid, what looked like a small girl with blonde hair while the other started to push the homeless person back against the wall. Coming closer I let them know that we were behind them.

"Gentleman I suggest you leave those folk alone"

"Oh yeah?"

That's when one of them took a punch at the man at the wall and the other tried to lift the kid off the floor.

"Hey we got ourselves a pretty boy here"

Sounded from behind me as a chain loomed in the corner of my eye. I ducked then stood, turning to the man yielding a long bike chain. It seemed the other two bikers had decided to join in the fun. As I ducked again a kick to his leg had him screaming out, but it didn't seem to stop him from thinking he could have a go at me. Tank was dodging swings from the other one while Santos had moved in to protect the small child. That left the homeless dude taking punches and kicks from the original biker.

Enough was enough, as my temper rose, and pure control of my instincts came to me. My attacker was out cold in a few seconds allowing me to turn my efforts to the man trying to beat the shit out of the homeless person.

That's when I heard it, a low growl, emanating from the child who was now free of their attacker and watched as she threw herself onto the back of the biker. I knew that sound, I'd heard it before but didn't have the time to analyze it. Ram was cuffing the bikers as each of us rendered them unconscious which only left the one biker. I think all of us were a little shocked as the biker grabbed hold of the blonde hair and it came away in his hand.

The child then locked their arms around his neck with their face close to the man's ear. An almighty roar came from the bikers throat, blood pouring down his neck. I looked to Tank who deftly lifted the child from his back while I delivered a series of punches to his head. He was out cold before his body hit the ground.

"Holy shit"

Came from Santos who had bent down to deal with the homeless guy, while the child squirmed so much that Tank ended up dropping him on his feet. He ran and tried to push Santos out of the way, a low growling sound erupting from his throat.

"It's Beautiful"

Only confirmed what I suspected. The boy, Mylo, he was the one trying to protect Steph.

"Mylo, let me get to Steph, I have to check out how badly hurt she is"

That was when Mylo looked at me and I think must have recognized me because he loosened his grip from around Steph's neck. Looking down on her I probably wouldn't have recognized her. Her face had various cuts and the beginning of swelling and bruises, but it was the hair stuck to her face that changed her appearance. Pulling the hat from her head to check her head for injuries I came across the riot of curly brown hair.

"I'm taking her back to Rangeman. Have Brown get there as soon as possible"

She was in my arms, okay injured, but I wasn't going to let her out of my sight again.

"Get going Ranger, I'll call the police once you've gone"

I nodded to Santos as I carried Steph toward my truck, Tank opening the back door for me to climb in with her.

"Ranger, she may need the hospital"

"Not happening Tank. The police will try to arrest her"

"Manning?"

I knew we'd agreed to observe him but fuck him. If it was the choice of doing that or having Steph safe at Rangeman then she would always be my priority.

"Throw him in a cell"