Chapter 41
My head was killing me, making it hard to remember anything. For a moment I thought that I was back in that cold grey room. I felt like shit and ached all over, even my stomach was in mutiny, again. I didn't want to open my eyes because until I did, I could pretend that I was safe. Maybe my lids fluttered a little, but no images came to me, so I let the blackness subdue my thoughts and lull me into a place that I knew was safe.
"Babe"
I had to have been really ill to have heard that voice, delusional maybe, because it was a voice that I would have dreamt of hearing. Okay, this time my eyes did open and stayed open, and even though I had to fight back the throb in my head and the sickness, I'd keep them open. The dark image in front of me started to swirl but my eyelids were desperate to close. All I knew was that I lost hold of what was around me and I felt safe. Stupid really, considering everything that had happened.
The next time I was aware of being awake the headache had dulled down and maybe my stomach had as well. It was the throb in my thigh that had me slowly remembering seeing that knife sticking out of me, the blood as it dripped down my thigh, falling as drops down toward the ground. My memory seemed to be in replay mode, all of the events that had happened inside that barn, everything except how it had finished. Ranger, an image of him against a wall, blood on his face and body had me tensing. Where was he, was he alive, had I made things worse for him by being there?
I was suddenly very aware of what, or should I say who, was close to me, a hard, warm, familiar body behind me, holding me. I pushed the idea of someone being with me, putting it down to wishful thinking, but when a hand touched my cheek again and I felt a stray curl of hair being pushed behind my ear, I knew I had to discover the truth.
I turned from my side onto my back, holding my breath as Ranger's face came into view.
The tears came as soon as I saw his eyes looking at me followed by even more tears. Here I was, feeling more scared than when Lukavic was threatening me, maybe as scared as when I was in that box. I had no idea what I should say and to be honest was waiting for him to say something or show how annoyed he was with me, maybe even how disappointed with me he was. The worst thought that I had was that he would tell me that he never wanted anything to do with me again. That I was just too much trouble.
I felt myself being lifted slightly so that I was leant against a pillow and then saw a glass in his hands and some tablets being held out, so I just automatically swallowed the tablets with some water.
Ranger was silent as he looked at me and maybe it was his silence that got to me because that was when the tears really started to flow. I was emotionally out of control and could only repeat over and over between the sobbing.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry"
I wanted to say more, that I was so sorry for not trusting him, so sorry for not telling him everything that I'd got involved with and so sorry for just going ahead without him. Most of all I wanted to say how sorry I was that I locked him out, that I hadn't opened my heart to him because the pain that I was feeling now far outweighed anything that I'd felt before.
I felt myself being held close to him, a hand gently rubbing my hip as the other held onto me. That gentle rubbing and a slight rocking motion had the same effect that it had always had on me and slowly the sobbing calmed to be replaced with hiccups and the shaking subsided to an occasion quiver running through my muscles.
"I was so worried about you Babe. I've been looking for you since the day you disappeared"
I hadn't expected to hear that, instead I was waiting for him to say that he didn't want anything more to do with me, after all, it was me who had deserted him and probably got him hurt.
"I'm"
I was going to say that I was sorry again, but the words didn't convey how deep the guilt was that I felt.
"I never wanted things to happen like they did. I was scared and I didn't think that you'd understand"
"All you have to do is talk to me, Babe"
Talk to him and tell him what? Tell him what I felt, hell, that felt like such an alien concept to me. I'd spent most of my life bottling up my feelings for fear of what people would think. I never once spoke out against my mother even when hearing her words would hurt me. I'd never voiced my side of the story when Val was praised for doing something that had been me, it just wasn't worth the aggravation that would have ensued. When my parents found out about what had happened with Joe at the Tasty Pastry no one asked me to explain my side, no one was interested. The poems that Joe wrote all over Trenton were believed by everyone, including my parents.
Hell, even catching Joyce on the dining room table with my then husband, everyone had me as the one in the wrong. So I learnt to say nothing, that way I wouldn't be disappointed. I looked up hesitantly to look at Ranger, surprised to see the concern on his face because to be honest I'd expected to see his blank face, the one that hid all of his emotions.
"Don't blank me out Babe"
I'm sure that I frowned as he said that because I had no idea that was what I was doing.
"I know you haven't lied to me Babe, but I also know that you haven't told me everything. Why did you do that, what were you afraid of?"
"You"
Just came out as the answer to his question, because I was afraid of his reactions toward me if I'd told him everything. He lifted my face to look at me and that was when I saw the look on his face, it confused me until I worked out that he'd totally misunderstood me.
"No, I'm not afraid of you, I'm afraid of what you'll think of me"
Saying that out loud brought some relief to me, but it still didn't dim the fear that I had if he knew what I'd done, especially as I'd accused him of betraying my trust in him. I knew in my heart that I'd always love him so him pushing me away because of that would break me apart.
"Babe, I see you as a brave woman who has been involved with things that were way beyond your usual experiences. Nothing that you could have done would ever make me change what I think about you or how I feel about you"
I wasn't so sure about that, did I regret what I'd done? Not really but I did need him to understand.
"Babe, let me in, please"
Hearing that word was nearly my undoing but when I considered what he'd asked of me I knew he'd find out one way or another so maybe it was better coming from me. If he thought less of me then maybe we were never meant to be, something that I would have to come to terms with.
"What I told you at your house was the truth, I never lied to you, just omitted some information. I told you that there were two laptops, Petco had one with him and the other we found in that mausoleum, but we didn't know which one was the real one. Ellie took charge of one and I sent the other one to Miami"
"So, on that road, you thought that I was delivering the one you had to Raynor. I would never have done that Babe"
"I know, but when we were on that road. I couldn't work out how they knew"
Yes, I'd probably jumped to conclusions but what else was I to think?
"I'm still working on that Babe. I would never betray you like that. Was it the real one?"
"I don't know"
Whichever one he had it seemed that he didn't have the passwords, which was why he'd threatened me in that barn. But how did he know that I knew the passwords?
"What actually happened on that boat in Istanbul, where you were hurt?"
The change in direction of what he was he was asking me threw me and to be honest I wasn't sure that I wanted to tell him the truth about what had happened that night. I hadn't told anyone about it, probably because it was an event that I wanted to totally forget about. Looking back now it was probably a stupid thing to have done, but I suppose it was one less devise that could be used. We thought that we were doing what was right. I hesitated before I answered, worried at telling Ranger. Even now the idea that I had nearly got myself killed sent a cold chill through me.
"Petco told us what he had built. He had no idea that it had been stolen and sold by Savic but we found out"
"What had he built Babe?"
I wasn't aware that he didn't know what the device was that we went after or that it was a simple thing to do to disarm it.
"An EMP. Petco was way ahead of his time, and he realized the device was as well. He showed me pictures and explained what I had to do to disarm it. It was easy to do, just remove two circuit boards. Ellie was supposed to disable the boat but there was an explosion. It wasn't her, and we never did work that one out. Anyway, I'd hidden in the bathroom when it happened and got caught by flying debris, that was how I got hurt. It was after that when I was scared to death. When I managed to get onto the deck there was no one there and there were fires everywhere. I ended up in the water"
I felt a shudder go through me as I said that and could remember how frightened I'd been, being in the cold sea with no sight of rescue.
"How long were you in the water for?"
"I don't know. I was cold and it was dark, but it was when bodies started to appear, or parts of bodies, that I freaked out. I started to imagine that maybe sharks would start arriving. Ellie talked a small fishing boat to come out and look for me, I was miles away from where the boat had gone down. They picked me up and took me to shore and Ellie bandaged me up, that was when we decided to fly home the next day"
I felt as Ranger pulled me close to him, I needed to feel his heat around me to ward off the memories. It was because of that experience that I'd suffered from nightmares after wards.
"Babe, I'm so proud of you, of what you did. Okay, I hate hearing how you were hurt and how scared you were, but you did what you thought was the right thing"
"Do you think I was right?"
There was no hesitation with his reply.
"Yes. Babe. If that had been me then I would done exactly the same"
I felt so much better for talking through those awful experiences in Turkey, though there were so many other things that he didn't know about. I relaxed against him, my hand running over his chest being careful with where the bruises and cuts showed up on his skin. That brought a whole new direction of thought to my mind.
"I didn't know what to think after that day on that road. I blamed you, which I shouldn't have done. The more I thought through it I knew you wouldn't have done anything to hurt me"
I felt his fingers rubbing circles in my shoulder and knew that he was thinking through what to tell me. Seeing as I was prepared to tell him everything then I thought that I deserved to know the truth. After a few minutes the movement stopped, and he laid his hand flat over my shoulder, in some ways I was dreading hearing what he was about to say.
"After you left me, I searched high and low for you. I was annoyed at being ambushed on that road, but I started to understand why you said what you did"
That was probably my greatest regret, and it was only after I'd calmed down that I knew that he would never have done that to me.
"I'm sorry I accused you of that, but at the time it was the only explanation that I had. I know you would never betray me, but afterwards I also knew that I couldn't involve you with what was happening"
"I don't blame you Babe, how it happened had me looking at things from a different perspective. I started back at the beginning, looking for who knew where we were and that we had that laptop with us"
That made sense and I could see his logic in doing that, what worried me was what he had found out, that someone I knew could have been responsible.
"It also made me realize that I had to find you, I didn't cope well with the idea of losing you and not being there with you. I also knew that when I did see you that I wanted those answers. I had Hector go through all of the company systems to see if someone had hacked into the tracker program. Ethan and CJ were released from their contract, but I refused to go to Washington for a debrief with Raynor because he would only tell me that an anonymous tip had told him where we would be that day"
The mention of trackers though had me running my thumb down my finger for where my ring had been. Could someone have accessed the tracker in there? It would make sense seeing as I was also found in Flores. But why wait until we were there when they could have found us sooner on the island.
"Babe?"
"I was wearing a ring, that had a tracker in it, but I was told that it only activated if I pushed the stone down. Could someone have accessed the signal from it?"
Why had I never thought about that sooner? But we each had one, did that mean that Ellie and Lizbeth were being followed as well? Then why just kidnap me?
"Who gave it to you?"
"Stanley, he gave one to me and one to Ellie and Lizbeth"
I thought through what I had said, my mind racing at the idea that it had been Stanley who had betrayed us.
"It wasn't Stanley Babe"
Okay, Ranger sounded very certain of that so what did he know that he wasn't telling me?
"Stanley came to me a few weeks ago. He told me what had been happening Babe"
"What?"
I made to move but was held in place, I was furious that Stanley had done that without telling me, why did he do that?
"Babe, don't be annoyed with him. He found me and insisted on talking with me, this ex soldier come private detective, whose house you just happened to be at. We had words, well he shouted a lot, but the bottom line was that he was worried. He knew that as a group you didn't have a lot of back up if anything went wrong, so I agreed to be that back up. He wouldn't tell me where you were or what you were doing, saying that you needed time to sort yourself out and that I needed to find some answers before I spoke to you"
"When, when did he speak to you?"
I wasn't sure whether to be annoyed with Stanley or pleased with him. Did he realize how upset I was with what had happened with Ranger? Maybe. I knew Stanley worried about us, almost like a parent would and for that I really liked him.
"After you did a job in New York. He told me that Elaina was responsible for the laptop but that only you knew the passwords. I offered to fund your group, but he wouldn't accept that, he said that you needed to develop as a group and be independent. I passed on the two jobs that you did"
I suppose that I had wondered where Stanley had found them but just assumed he'd used his old contacts.
"You did a brilliant job finding Lilian Lawley, we'd hit a brick wall with that one. I'm so sorry for what else you found"
The tone that Ranger used implied that he knew about us finding the bodies of those other women and while I still felt so helpless knowing how they had died, I had come to terms with the fact that we couldn't have done anything to help them. We'd saved Lilian and now knew no other women would ever have the same done to them.
"So do you know what happened in Mexico?"
Remembering the experience of having to meet with Miguel Corbino and how he had helped us to get Jasmine's daughter back to her. Ranger smiling surprised me, hell the experience I had was no laughing matter.
"Yes. Miguel and I, well we have a mutual respect for each other. I was sent on a mission several years ago to help subdue the Gulf Cartel. They were getting violent and expanding their business areas in a way that both the Mexican Government and ours wanted stopping. Miguel runs a mainly legit operation and for keeping a handle on what happens in the area, the authorities turn a blind eye to some of his illegal operations"
"Did you talk to him?"
Because I had really thought that everything that had happened had been all down to us. I think I would be mortified if I thought that Ranger had somehow interfered.
"He contacted me to ask why my woman was in his region of the country"
I saw the slight smile cross Ranger's lips, was that because Miguel saw me as his woman or had Miguel said something else?
"What did you tell him?"
I asked hoping that there was no mention of cars or explosions.
"That you were there for a legitimate reason and that he would need to hear you out"
Okay, that sounded fair. I was looking down at my hand and was aware of my palm being coated in a white cream. I lifted the other hand to see a similar coating puzzled by why it was there.
"What happened?"
Because I couldn't remember how I had hurt my hands. In fact come to think of it when I had woken up I was sure that my leg was hurting and my head ached. Damn, those tablets he had given to me must have been good. I pushed the sheet that was covering me to reveal a white bandage around my thigh and more of the cream on the inside of my legs. Then it came to me, I'd climbed up that post to get away and give Ranger some time to escape. Once on the beam I remembered the knife in my leg and someone trying to move me.
"What's your last memory?"
"A man, Josip, trying to get me to let go of that beam"
Which meant that somehow, I had got down, how I had no idea. I looked around the room trying to see beyond the dim light coming through from behind the heavy drapes, totally lost as to where we were. I'd been so wrapped up in talking with Ranger I hadn't even thought of where we were or how we were here.
"You fell but Josip broke your fall. That's how you got knocked out, I think your head hit his as you landed"
I brought my hand to my forehead and felt the bump and a slight throb when I touched it. How could I not have remembered that happening? Did Ranger escape from the cuffs and get us both out of there? I knew that I must have looked confused because I certainly felt it.
"Babe, because of you I managed to get myself free, and because of you someone recognized you and called for help"
"Recognized me?"
Who could that have been because I was sure that I had never seen any of the men in that barn before.
"Do you even know where we are?"
I looked around the room again taking in what I could see. Okay it seemed like a large bedroom with the walls painted in a light color and pictures hung up. I couldn't see any detail in them because it wasn't light enough. There were three doors which I assumed led to a bathroom, a closet and I suppose one led outside.
"No, I have no idea where I am"
Because I didn't. I mean I'd only been in that hotel room for five minutes before I'd been attacked, and it didn't look anything like here.
"We're in Miguel's house"
"Miguel, Miguel who?"
I was getting more confused by the minute and Ranger saying Miguel wasn't helping.
"Miguel Corbino, in Monterrey"
I opened my mouth but didn't know what to say so closed it. The idea of me being here seemed ridiculous, hell I was in Flores in Guatemala so how could I be here? It must be a 1000 mile journey, which I was sure I would have remembered. I shook my head with disbelief at what Ranger had said, he must have been joking, though even I knew that he didn't do that very often. How had it happened?
"Oh no, it wasn't a dream"
The memory of being inside a box, it had been real. The bastards had put me inside a box to transport me here. No wonder I felt like crap when I woke up inside that cell.
"What are you remembering Babe?"
I wasn't sure I wanted him to know, because I was sure he would be livid with how they'd treated me. Then again from what I was learning about Emir Marko Lukavic I was more than just annoyed with him myself.
"They brought me here from Flores Guatemala. I thought that it was dream because it seemed so unreal but maybe it wasn't. I think they hid me inside a box"
I was glad that he didn't say anything, words of sympathy would have made it seem too real and at the moment I wanted those memories to stay as vaguely remembered dreams. Instead, Ranger just held me to him, his hold of me stronger than words could ever have been. I needed to move on from this, to focus on something else.
"But how were you there?"
"I was in Miami, when a message came through that looked to be from Miguel. It was asking for some help with some rogue members of the Gulf Cartel. It said that he was on his way there and would meet me at the usual time and place"
"It was a set up"
I added as I listened to what he was saying, though I was surprised that Ranger had fallen for it or that he would have come on his own.
"Yeah. I called his number, but the message said that he was returning from his in laws and would be in touch soon, to leave a message. I had no reason to doubt that it wasn't him"
"Who came with you?"
If nothing else Ranger was always consistent in that he wouldn't have done that alone, he would have had someone with him as backup.
"Santos. I had a team on standby if it turned out worse than the message suggested, and we needed more men. I was at the restaurant before the usual time and waited but Miguel never turned up. As I left, I was ambushed"
"Wasn't Les there?"
That was what would normally happen, Les would have been outside watching the car surely?
"Never made it outside, so Santos had no idea that I was gone or where I'd been taken to."
Emir Marko Lukavic had gone to a lot of trouble to get to Ranger and to be honest I was afraid of the motives for him wanting him. He had to have known about the alliance between Ranger and Miguel and also details, a lot of details. The message must have looked authentic because I was sure that Ranger would have checked on that. Then there was knowing where and when they would meet and be sure that Miguel was out of contact.
"A lot of thinking Babe"
And I was sure that Ranger had asked every one of the questions going through my mind. He'd be annoyed that Emir Marko Lukavic had captured him.
"Do you know why?"
I asked, even though I was certain that I knew, I still wanted to hear Ranger say it, of course I could be completely wrong.
"To know where you were, and I suppose be an added incentive to get you to tell him the passwords"
I had the craziest thought as he said that and couldn't help but start to laugh.
"Babe"
That one word that Ranger called me had me looking up at him. How was it that he could make that name mean so many things, like now? He was saying that laughing wasn't what he was expecting from me. I covered my mouth and stopped the laughing knowing that he was waiting for some sort of explanation.
"You used to tell me that you didn't do relationships"
"I know but not now"
"Don't interrupt. One of the reasons was that you were worried that enemies of yours could come after me to get to you. But you know you were wrong, don't you?"
I felt his finger on my lips to stop me from talking because I think that maybe he could work out where I was going with this.
"It was after Scrogg and then Orin that I saw how much danger being with me put you in. I couldn't let anything happen to you Babe, and I know what you're thinking. One of your enemies coming after me is, I suppose, a turn around. The thing is, I also worked out that when we're together, we're invincible"
The soft kiss on my lips had me totally forgetting the point that I wanted to make and yeah, maybe together we did make a good team, though from what I remembered of those two men it wasn't always because I was very good at being careful. Half the time I was sure it was down to luck that we survived at all. Thinking was overrated as I sank into that kiss and my body started to respond. Hell, it had been so long since that night when we'd been together, but the tingle that flowed down from my chest felt so familiar, as my heart rate increased. I definitely moaned as he pulled away, but his hands on my face kept me close enough to feel his breath on my lips as he spoke.
"Much as I really want to make love to you now, I don't want to hurt you and to be honest my ribs would stop me doing all the things that I want to do for you"
I know I sighed because even though I was disappointed, I knew that he was right. I felt guilty for not being more aware of how badly he'd been hurt so as an answer I leant forward and kissed his lips gently before resting my head on his chest. I felt the vibration through my cheek as he spoke.
"It'll be morning soon and I'm sure that Miguel will expect us to join him for breakfast"
Breakfast, that sounded like a good idea, after all I was sure that I hadn't eaten anything for hours and what I had eaten I'd probably thrown up when I was in that cell. Looking down at what I was wearing, my sports bra and panties, I would need some clothes and probably a shower.
"Is there any chance that there could be some clothes that I could borrow?"
I asked because there didn't seem to be any to see.
"Andrea left some in the closet for you and there's a waterproof bandage and cream in the bathroom"
Walking wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, and in the end, Ranger took pity on me and carried me through to the bathroom. While he started the water in the shower, I looked at myself in the mirror over the sink. I touched the bruise on my cheek where Lukavic had slapped me and then the swelling just above my forehead. My hair was still tied up, well most of it, so I carefully removed the remaining pins before running my hands through my hair. I felt the bandage being removed and looked down to see Ranger removing it surprised to see a small, neat row of stitches.
"Who treated me?"
Because I was curious who had the skills to do such a neat job.
"Miguel has a doctor on call who came here"
With the waterproof bandage now covering the wound I was ready to undress so I suggested to Ranger that he found a shower of his own, no way would I cope having him in here with me.
Wearing a pretty blue sun dress and flip flops I made my way down the stairs. The heat from the shower had eased the stiffness in my leg and I'd found some more of those tablets that Ranger had given to me earlier. Okay, I found it difficult to put my full weight onto the leg, so assumed that there was probably damage to the muscle. Once I eventually made it downstairs I recognized where I was so had no problem finding the area where breakfast would be served.
Ranger stood up and came over to me when he saw me and helped me to a chair where I spied a plate set out in front of me. I think that I recognized most of the ingredients. Chilaquiles, deep-fried tortillas soaked in a red tomato-based sauce, topped with a dollop of cream, grated cheese and onion slices, served with avocado and cilantro and scrambled eggs. Man, I was hungrier than I realized, so 15 minutes later I sat back with a glass of orange juice totally stuffed.
If Ranger or Miguel had been talking then I was unaware of their conversation and as I sat there both men were just looking at me.
"Sorry, did you ask me something, because I wasn't listening"
Did they really expect me to when I was so focused on eating?
"Miguel was asking how you were feeling"
Now I just felt that I'd been rude and felt my cheeks heat up.
"Fine. Thank you for getting a doctor for me"
To be honest I was curious to hear what Miguel knew and how he'd been dragged into this.
"Ranger told me that you were out of town Miguel?"
I had to start somewhere, and that question seemed to be as good as any. Somehow someone knew that Miguel wouldn't be around and knew enough about his habits to be able to trick Ranger into coming to Monterrey.
"I spoke about that with Ranger last night. I got a message from one of my associates over on the west coast, Mexico that is, that there was an issue with transport. Andrea's parents are over there so we decided to combine business with pleasure. Some of the merchandise had been hijacked, merchandise that was being sent up to a pharmaceutical company. The truck couldn't be found so I had a job on my hands to appease the client and renegotiate another shipment. Anyway, once that was sorted, I spent a few days with Andrea and the children"
I suppose that accounted for where he had been and no doubt the lost shipment was a way to get him away from Monterrey but there was something else that puzzled me.
"Surely you had your phone on you?"
"I did. Both of them. One is for personal use and the other is for business use. Ranger's message came from my personal phone, but I never sent it nor did I receive his message"
I knew that I was probably frowning as I tried to work out how that could have happened.
"We think that someone cloned his phone Babe"
I knew that couldn't be good for Miguel because it meant all of his information could be seen by someone else.
"I presume you know when that happened?"
Knowing that might help to work out who was responsible, wouldn't it?
"Miguel knows who it was, Babe. We think it was a maid here at the house, but she's disappeared"
I knew when he said disappeared that she may very well be dead. Used, or even threatened with something. It seemed that Lukavic was a very resourceful man, especially when he wanted something, and at the moment I was the one who had what he wanted. I closed my eyes briefly very aware of why Ranger was at that barn. Lukavic would have hurt him to get me to talk. I was so glad that eventuality had never arisen because I think I would rather die with the secret of that password than for anything to happen to Ranger.
I needed to rid those thoughts from my mind. It hadn't happened so now we needed to move forward and try to work out Lukavic's end game.
"Miguel, how did you find us?"
"I received a message from the man who keeps me informed on things going on here in town. Fortunately, he has the number for my business phone. He told me that some of the men affiliated with the Gulf Cartel had changed allegiance to some new boss and were using the old place up at Los Mirasoles"
I remembered that place all too well, that had been where the group had been holding children before moving them to be sold and it was where Aida was being held by her father, Alessi.
"He called me when he heard that they were holding a man there, but to be honest that didn't really concern me as no one had any idea of who it was. It was when he called me back to say that a woman, one who he recognized from a previous incident, was being held there, that was when I knew that I had to do something"
I could honestly say that I had no recollection of who this informant would be or how he would have seen me before and been able to recognize me.
"Gael was the one who saw that you were in trouble at the café"
It seemed this man Gael had saved me twice by calling Miguel, so I owed him. I had no idea how I could ever repay him for helping me, but I wanted to convey my thanks to him.
"Miguel, would you thank Gael for me. I probably owe him more than just words, but I'd appreciate it if you could pass on the message for me"
A slight nod and a smile from Miguel assured me that he would do that, which left only questions that I had no answers for. How many people knew just how important Ranger was to me? It wasn't as if we'd been together. We'd resolved how they'd managed to trap Ranger but how did Lukavic know the connection between Ranger and Miguel? Then that left me wondering how Lukavic knew where I was and if somehow, he had the laptop that Ellie had been carrying. Could the laptops themselves have trackers inside them? I didn't think so, otherwise he would have found them sooner. My mind was racing through thoughts that to be honest I didn't like. Ellie, Ethan, Lizbeth and Stanley were the only ones who knew that I could unlock the laptop with the passwords, but if they were responsible for informing Lukavic of where I was why hadn't he found us sooner? If it was one of them, they could easily have stolen the laptop for him. Things just didn't make sense to me, and I had no idea what to do next.
"Babe, what are you thinking?"
I looked up and over to Ranger, noting that we were on our own at the table. Miguel must have left us alone.
"I'm worried about the others, where they are and if he knew where I was then they could be in danger. Maybe Lukavic found Ellie and took the laptop so that was why he needed me"
I watched Ranger as he sat there silently, sure that he was also trying to piece things together.
"Maybe Lukavic got the laptop from his brother after he died"
I suppose that made sense in a way and that actually made me feel better, that my four new friends were totally innocent. Though hearing about the death of Markovic had me internally grimacing knowing how he had died.
"It could also mean that the Colonel you know or Markovic gave it to him"
I could see that Ranger didn't like that idea, who could blame him, men like the colonel were supposed to be trustworthy and loyal to their country. Maybe Markovic had handed it over to the supposed kidnappers before he died because he might still have been under the illusion that he would get Ellie in exchange and I was very sure that Lukavic was involved in the organ theft.
"We need to know who sent that ransom demand. I think it was Lukavic because he was involved with that organ theft group"
"How do you know that?"
Hell, there was so much that Ranger didn't know about and I suppose after our talk this morning I knew that I had to be upfront with him. The problem was that there was so much that had happened since I'd last seen him.
"After the job in New York, Stanley and I left by boat. I saw the same boat that I'd seen stopping at that warehouse so took a load of photos. Eventually I managed to identify the man who was there, and it was Lukavic"
"So you think that it was Lukavic that sent the ransom demand?"
"Yeah"
Then again there was someone else involved with this, the man who had given Joe all of that cash and who had tipped off the group at the warehouse, they had something to do with this and the chances were that he was FBI. I was going around in circles with ideas but had no thoughts on what to do next.
"We need to find somewhere safe Babe. Lukavic will be determined to get his hands on you again"
I knew that but at the moment I was finding it very hard to decide who I could trust. Looking at Ranger I knew that I could trust him, hell, he had saved my life so many times in the past.
"Where?"
"Miguel has arranged the use of a boat for us. We can decide where we want to go, once we have more information"
My mind was conjuring up images of that old fishing boat that Stanley had used to get us away from Trenton. The last series of images weren't what I wanted though as I pictured the yacht that been blown to pieces with me on it. Not wanting Ranger to know of my trepidation of being on a boat I excused myself with the excuse of finding some better clothes to wear and freshen up for the journey.