Chapter 11

As I entered the conference room for the early morning meeting it seemed different, the talking from the men was louder and there were glances my way. As I sat at the head of the table a silence descended around the room, all eyes watching me, and I suppose waiting for me to start the meeting.

"We have a guest downstairs that we brought in last night. One who thinks that it's okay to sell children to order. Brown?"

I looked at Brown because to date I wasn't aware of what had happened to Dorkins or the young child.

"Dorkins was arrested. Megan, the woman from child services, had already approached the police about her concerns over Dorkins. She's spent a lot of time finding kids that have been abused by him"

I hadn't imagined that someone was that close to having Dorkins arrested, so was pleased that he would be taken off the streets.

"The young child?"

Because their safety was just as important to me.

"Reunited with his family. He'd run away from home a couple of months ago but was scared to go back, thinking that his folks wouldn't want him back"

"What do people know about Lapira?"

Because I didn't want the heat from the police looking for him.

"It's known that there's someone selling kids, but so far no one has any ideas of who it is. Dorkins doesn't know who he was dealing with, and you were too far away from us to see your involvement afterwards"

I was relieved with that and was sure that Brown would have woven a story to tell people as to how he knew that Dorkins was taking possession of a child. Afterall it wasn't unusual for us to come across information. That covered, it was time to move on, though I had a feeling that most of the men here knew that already. Was the change in atmosphere because the men had some hope, hope that Steph hadn't abandoned them?

"Lapira. I want to know if he spoke with Steph and if he did what he said. I'll go in first to warn him of what's to come, but I want him alive when I go back to him"

"I'll set up a rota"

I nodded to Tank, noting that he was probably looking forward to his allocated time.

"Down to the business of the day gentlemen"

I said to bring the meeting to order. We still had a business to run so the daily reports were important as were the schedules for the yearly reviews. Once the meeting was finished a look at my watch showed that I had 40 minutes before I was due in the gym to assess Cal and Ram on their combat skills, plenty of time to introduce myself to Lapira.

Downstairs I found Binkie sat in the observation room, watching the screen with an image from the cell. Watching Lapira, he looked too relaxed for my liking, sat on the chair at the desk. His hands were cuffed to chains that ran through the table, a table that was bolted to the floor. My last impression of him from the night before was that he was tall and thin and that was more evident now.

He had dark long hair that I was sure would normally be swept tidily off his face, because he was trying hard to sweep it back now even though the chain wouldn't allow that much motion. His skin was dark, though not as dark as mine and he had pale brown eyes that seemed to be focused on his hands. I'd imagined him to be older given his chosen occupation but looking at him now, I'd say he was maybe mid twenties.

But he wasn't nervous which surprised me.

"Any problems Binkie?"

"No Sir. He's never said a word and has been very submissive"

Walking from the room and down the corridor to the cell I was thinking of the way that I would approach him. I input the number into the lock and opened the door, watching Lapira all of the time. He looked up at me, a slight frown on his face as though he had no idea why I would want to talk to him, or maybe I was wrong, maybe he did know. Closing the door, I picked up a chair, turning it around so the back was facing Lapira and sat down. All the time watching him, watching me.

"I want to know about the conversation that you had with Stephanie Plum"

From the surprise on Lapira's face I would say that he hadn't been expecting that question from me, that or he was a damn good actor.

"That cute bounty hunter, has she got herself into trouble?"

If I didn't know better, I'd say he was trying to goad me, not a good idea.

"Lapira, did you talk to her?"

"Yeah, hell, she was pretty persistent. How the hell she knew about me or even found me I have no idea"

I had to admit that knowing Steph and how determined she could be, it didn't surprise me or that she would face a man like this on her own.

"What did you tell her?"

Because this could be the link that I needed to work out where she'd gone next or even at finding Lainey. I watched as he leant back in his chair, his face turning defiant. It seemed that he was opting for some conversations with my men.

"It's your choice, Lapira, talk to me now or after my men have had their fun"

As he shook his head and looked away from me, I stood up and removed the chair. The door opened before I reached it and I watched as Santos walked into the room as I walked out. I was annoyed, okay I knew that Lapira wasn't going to tell me anything just because I asked him nicely, but it was the way that he'd acted. I wasn't sure if he was being defiant against me or if he was more afraid of repeating something to me. Could he be afraid of what I'd do if he'd sold Lainey as he had that kid last night? Or was this more to do with Steph? Had he purposely sent her to where he knew she might get hurt? But then where did Morelli fit into this, had he threatened Lapira and then taken her out of town? It didn't make sense to me because if Steph thought that she was close to finding Lainey she would never have let that happen. What might have been worse was if Steph had found the dead body of Lainey, now that would definitely send her over the edge, and it would have given Morelli the opportunity to take advantage of her.

I was still busy swirling things around in my head when the elevator opened on three. I straightened my posture as I walked into the gym preparing myself mentally for this damn assessment of Cal and Ram. I watched the two of them as they weaved and dodged the punches and kicks from each other. They were evenly matched. Cal had the weight and height, but Ram had the speed. As they came to the end of the bout I looked down at the card in my hand where I had recorded the exchange and counted up the number of times each man had made contact from a punch or a kick and the number of times they'd successfully blocked.

"Well done, standards surpassed. Organize to roll out to the rest of the men"

We used a pyramid organizational structure. Both Cal and Ram had been assessed individually by Tank, so today was about setting standards. It was a hierarchy with the core team at the top and descending levels from middle management to the lower levels of the organization. In other words, the men assessed each other, hell, it would take me months to go through every man in the company. This way gave the men ownership of the systems that we had in place.

That completed I was keen to return to the basement and discover if Lapira had decided to talk. I was feeling optimistic with the number of men who had volunteered to persuade him, but was looking forward to my next talk with the man. Maybe this time he'd more cooperative because it wouldn't be my men who would inflict more pain, it would be me.

As I reached the observation room, I almost had to push my way through the men still here watching.

"I think he's convinced that talking to you would be a good idea. Brown's in now checking him over"

I noticed that for having beaten a man that Santos's knuckles were only slightly red and Lapira's face only had a few swollen areas. The wounds that Brown was currently treating were long slashes around his side.

"Who cut him?"

Assuming that maybe Hector was responsible.

"Miguel cut off his shirt preparing to use the electrodes. He already had them but with being punched the wounds have opened up"

Hence why Brown was treating him now. Which meant that someone else had already

attacked Lapira before we found him. I hoped that it was dissatisfied customer. As Brown applied fresh bandages and stepped back, that was when I decided to pay the man a visit. I nodded to Binkie, for him to reengage the recording features within the cell and was once again walking inside. Again, I pulled up a chair and sat down in front of him noting that his whole demeanor had changed. He looked scared now, interesting.

"Other people after you Lapira?"

I said as I looked at the new bandages.

"I thought they were your men"

That surprised me, why would he think that? I raised an eyebrow because I sure as hell wasn't going to be wasting time with words when he would know that I expected him to talk.

"I thought it was someone that you sent, I know she's your woman, so I wouldn't have hurt her. Besides she's not young enough for my clients"

I closed my eyes briefly after hearing that, this man was a low life piece of work.

"What did you tell Stephanie?"

After a quick look at the door and then at Brown, Lapira had his face down when he eventually started to talk again.

"Do you know how many people have found me and asked exactly the same thing? One lot even cut me and threatened worse. What the hell is so special about that damn girl?"

"Let's start with what you told Steph"

I was impatient with Lapira now but was also concerned if other people were also looking for Lainey.

"That I'd seen that girl around and got talking to her. Okay I thought that maybe she was a way in to finding other kids on the street. Anyway, turns out that the girl that Steph was looking for was looking for someone else. Someone called Anderson. I couldn't help her with that"

So that was where Steph had heard the name. So who else was asking about her?

"Who else has been asking the about this girl?"

"That fucking cop, but he was more interested in knowing where your woman was. He tried to threaten me, saying he'd have me arrested. I don't know who the other men were, the ones that cut me. Somehow, they knew that I'd talked to that girl and thought that I knew where she was. Three of them there were, all of them carrying. Then this older man, he was following me around. He seemed harmless, in fact I thought he was after some merchandise. Asked the same damn questions. Did I know where this girl was. He actually seemed really worried and was as nervous as hell"

I was quiet as I went through what he'd said. Obviously, Morelli had been following Steph's trail, possibly through the places and people she'd met up with, just as we had. The men who attacked him worried me, what would they want with a young girl, then again what would an older man want with a young girl?

"Something was going down, but I don't know what. People living on the streets were spooked, I'd say. There weren't as many kids around and even some of the older ones were staying close to the shelters"

I heard what Lapira had said not sure if he was talking to me or just thinking out loud. What would spook some of the homeless when they spent most of their time on the streets? They knew the places to go, those to avoid and kept very much to themselves.

Looking back at Lapira I knew I needed to decide what the hell to do with him. He didn't have any convictions against him but having him continue what he did, I wouldn't let that happen. I wasn't sure if what he'd told me had helped that much. I didn't feel that I was any closer on knowing what the hell had happened.

I left the cell, locking the door behind me knowing that I needed to talk to the other men before making a decision.

"Meet me in my office"

Was all that I said, implying that any man who had been in that cell needed to see me. Maybe Lapira had said something else, something that might seem insignificant but when put together could be important. Once in my office I wasn't surprised when the core team arrived at the same time.

"Slimy little git, aint he?"

I wasn't going to answer, probably because I agreed with what Santos was saying. I led the way over to the table and sat down waiting for the others to join me. Brown went via my fridge and brought out five bottles of water, placing them in the center of the table.

"What else did he say?"

I asked, looking around the table.

"He kept asking who we were between me punching him. When I said we were Rangeman, he looked as much shocked as scared. Kept saying that he'd never do anything to Manoso's woman, so why were we beating him up again"

Interesting that he saw Steph as my woman, though putting that out on the streets had been a way of me protecting her, from a distance. There were a lot of people that wouldn't want me upset at them for hurting Steph.

"Ranger, what he said to you, do you believe him?"

As I thought through what Tank was asking, I had to admit that I saw no reason for him to have lied to us.

"Yes. He has nothing to gain from lying to us"

"What do want to do with him Ranger?"

As Tank asked that question I leant forward and grabbed hold of a bottle of water, unscrewing the cap and then tightening it up again.

"He has no record because he keeps under the radar, but I don't like what he does. Could he be useful to us?"

Okay that had a few eyebrows going up, but it was Hector who was taking me seriously.

"Here at Rangeman or out on the street?"

Hector would know that I would always give an opportunity for someone to prove their worth to me, to show me that they could shed their past. Afterall Hector was a prime example of that. Once a gang leader with a teardrop tattoo that signified killing someone, as an honor killing, he'd turned his life around and was now part of the core team here, respected by everyone.

"Start him on the street. He's like a ghost on the street and probably good at finding people, so maybe we could use him to find our FTAs"

"He couldn't keep dealing with kids"

I just looked at Brown amazed that he would even think that I'd let that happen.

"I'll manage him"

Was the deciding factor that came from Hector, as I was pretty sure that Hector would be very good at that, especially as he could probably see everything that he did through a computer. In fact, seeing as Lapira was possibly good on the computer he might have another skill that we could utilize.

"Lapira said something strange just before I left him. He thought that something was happening with people on the streets. He said they were spooked. That there weren't as many kids around and even some of the older ones were staying close to the shelters"

"What would make them do that?"

I had no idea. I knew that it wasn't always safe living as they did but it had never been mentioned that something had changed. As I thought through any possible reasons, I suddenly remembered what Hendrick had said.

"Hendrick mentioned that most of the bodies that he was trying to identify were homeless folk. That they were found in out of the way places, and he was struggling to find the cause of death or when they had died"

Did someone have a vendetta against homeless people, was there someone out there killing them off?

"I know a lot of folk are frightened by them, but what you're saying, hell, why would anyone want to kill them?"

As I looked at Tank, I shrugged my shoulders because I had absolutely no idea.

"Hector get Lapira to ask around, to talk to some of the homeless"

"I'll talk to Hendrick and get more details"

I nodded my head to Brown. I had no idea if we were clutching at straws, but it was something to rule out. There was nothing more that we could do at the moment which I was finding very frustrating. Once my office was empty, I went through to the conference room that we used for when we had more complex jobs and with a marker pen started to write any and all information that we'd come across. Where it seemed to be random information, I used a red marker and blue for the details that we were sure of.

As I stepped back and leant against the table there was a hell of a lot of red on the board. The problem that I was having was connecting anything together, that was if there were any connections to be made. I might have been lost in thought, but I was still aware as the door opened. Turning I saw Tank walking in but was surprised to see Eddie behind him. I ended up looking closer at Eddie because to me he seemed pale and extremely nervous.

"Take a seat Eddie and then you can tell us what was so important that you had to talk to me and Ranger"

Tank sat down but Eddie didn't, instead he was stood rigidly to the spot. I had an awful feeling that the reason for Eddie being here wasn't going to be good news. As he began to talk, he kept his eyes on the floor, his face lost, no longer easy to read.

"It's bad, real bad. Morelli, he's dead and there was a woman in the car with him"

I sat down with what I'd heard, replaying the words in my head. What occurred to me was that Eddie hadn't said that it was Steph.

"What happened?"

At least Tank was thinking clearly because I wasn't.

"Near Rutland, Vermont. Message came through from the sheriff there. Their car, well it went off the road, and it exploded. The bodies were, they had to send off for DNA comparisons to identify the bodies. It's only a small police department over there, so it's taken them ages to get the results back. They called this morning because a match came back to Morelli"

"The woman?"

I stayed silent letting Tank ask the questions because I really wasn't totally focused on what was being said. All I could think of was that Steph was with Morelli. I'm sure my heart sped up and maybe even my breathing. I know my head was being held by my hands because the whooshing sound in my ears was debilitating.

The idea of it being Steph, that she was dead, was unbearable. It couldn't be her; it wasn't her; I wasn't going to believe it. No, she was out there somewhere and the need to find her became overwhelming. I had to get control of myself and with that thought in my mind slowed down my breathing with deep breaths pushing what had been said to the back of my mind.

When I eventually looked up and around the room Eddie and Tank weren't there anymore, instead Santos and Brown were stood by the door talking. It was Santos who approached me, placing his hand on my back as if to console me. I shook it off, standing up quickly not wanting to hear what Santos might have to say.

"It may not be her. Eddie's talking to Ram now. Ram has all of our DNA in case anything happened to one of us. He has Beautiful's as well, so Eddie's arranging with the sheriff over there for Ram to travel over to Vermont and do a comparison"

I didn't hesitate with what I said next.

"I'm going with him"

It wasn't a request it was fact. I needed to go, to be where those bodies had been found.

"There'll be nothing for you there, Ranger. What with the explosion and then wild animals, it isn't something that you need to see"

The look that I gave Brown left no doubt that my mind was made up, if it was Steph, then I wanted to be there for her, to cast aside any doubts that still lingered.

"Okay. But I'll be going with you"

Maybe Santos going was a good idea, because with how I was feeling I wasn't too sure what I would do if it was bad news. He and Tank were the only two men who could have a hope in hell of controlling me if I lost my shit. I had to hold onto the hope that she was still alive, if it was her then I really wasn't sure of how I would react.

You might think that I was used to death, seeing people die in front of me. Hell, I'd been there when friends had died, fallen soldiers cut down in the line of duty. I'd compartmentalized those losses as inevitable but there were times when their faces haunted me. Steph, she was my Babe, she was a part of my life. I wasn't sure that her death would be that easy to overcome.

Hell, thinking that she had run away with Morelli had hurt but at least in the back of my mind was the notion that she was happy and safe. Damn Morelli. If he wasn't dead already, then I would have happily killed him again.