Chapter 43
I woke as Steph started to move and watched as she left the bed to go to the bathroom, a look at the time and I wasn't surprised that it was early. When we'd been at my house it was usual for her to wake early. As she came out of from the bathroom and looked over to the bed, I think that she was surprised that I was awake and watching her.
"I didn't mean to wake you"
"You didn't. How are you feeling this morning?"
I could see that she was still limping and knew it would take time for her wound to heal. The knife that Lukavic had thrown at her had gone in deep, damaging muscle tissue but fortunately missing any main blood vessels.
"Okay. The headache seems to have gone but this leg is still sore. I won't be able to do my usual exercising"
I held out my hand to her hoping that she'd return to bed because she still looked tired, pleased when she walked over and snuggled back into bed next to me. There was no way that I could go back to sleep but running my hand down her back I felt a sense of calmness come over me. I'd lost this woman twice, yet here she was. I wasn't about to lose her again.
"I don't deserve to be with you"
I was surprised by what Steph had said and from her quiet demeanor knew that she was still concerned with us being together.
"Babe, you are the only person that I know who has the ability to evoke every emotion known. I felt fear, worry, frustration. Okay annoyance at times and certainly despair. But you know, the one emotion that got me through everything was a deep feeling of love for you. You give me happiness and a calmness that I hadn't experienced before so yes, you do deserve to be here with me"
I watched as the surprise crossed her face and her eyes watered, okay, maybe for me that was a long speech and I had expressed how I was feeling, not something that I was comfortable doing. I knew that how I had treated Steph in the past hadn't been fair. Hell, the way I would pull her to me and then push away had to have confused her. I was pretty sure that all of those emotions that I'd felt, she had experienced them as well. Now I needed for us to be honest with each other, to express how we felt and maybe work through how to communicate with each other. As I kissed her head, I felt her head nod and heard her whispered response.
"I do love you, I have for a long time"
That had me smiling against her hair because that was the best thing that she could have said to me.
Over the next couple of days we fell into a routine. Steph would sleep later into the morning while I discovered the well equipped gym on the lower deck. After breakfast together with the other men she would find a lounger and relax with a book. The marks on her legs from getting the splinters in her skin from the wooden post were healing well but she still felt the need to cover them with a thin kaftan style dress. No amount of cajoling would entice her into the water and whilst the excuse of her injury was believable, I knew it was the fear of being in open water that was the cause.
By the evening of the third day, we were all feeling her frustration, her being so quiet a dead give away. I waited until we were in the privacy of our bedroom, knowing that we needed to have a conversation.
"Babe, you need to talk me. Something's bothering you"
We were sat on the deck outside the bedroom, with Steph laid down next to me on the lounger. I waited for her to answer me, watching her face, knowing that she was trying to pull her thoughts together. I almost sighed with relief as she started to talk.
"I feel as though I'm in limbo and I can't stop thinking about all of the things that have happened and how they all tie together. I have so many questions that I have no answers to. I need to be doing something"
I could understand how she felt. Being on this boat did feel surreal as though we were detaching ourselves from reality. I knew that the men were only thinking of Steph's safety, trying to put time and distance between her and the danger that seemed to be following her. Spending over a week on this boat and some time in New Orleans wasn't my style either.
"How about instead of stopping in New Orleans before sailing for Key West, we travel directly to this island of Ram's"
That had her attention and she was suddenly looking at me, her eyes wide with expectation.
"We could do that?"
I'd have to work out transport arrangements that would keep us anonymous, but I was sure that it could be done.
"I think so. I don't want to fly, but we could drive"
Trying to work out in my head I reckoned it would take about 15 hours. Not insurmountable and it would reduce our time of arrival by at least 6 days from the men's planned itinerary. Watching Steph's face light up as I said that I knew that that was what we would do. We still had another full day on the boat before we docked in New Orleans so there would be enough time to make the arrangements.
"How about if I work with the men to plan that out tomorrow, while you start to put together those questions that are worrying you, that way we'll have a head start when we're on the island?"
What I had suggested seemed to be the right idea because instead of an answer from Steph she leant into me, holding my head for her to kiss me. A kiss that deepened as her lips began to tease mine and the taste of her erupted inside of my mouth. As kissing went this was far more passionate than the ones we'd exchanged since being on the boat and I felt the heat travelling through me. My mouth moved to her neck and nibbled on the sweet spot just above her shoulder while my hand moved under her T-shirt to her breasts.
Before I knew it, I was feeling her hands gliding over my chest, sending tingles from her touch across my skin. Sense should have told me to stop, we both had injuries that should have been considered but sense didn't stand a chance against the primal desire that was welling up inside of me. As my hand moved slowly down her stomach, I could hear her short breaths and moans of desire, so I continued until I felt the wetness at her core, using my skills to bring her to orgasm. It seemed that Steph had ideas on how to continue as she carefully pushed me onto my back and straddled me.
I woke to the dawn of a new day, still on my back with Steph sprawled over my chest fast asleep. At some stage during the night, I must have pulled up a towel to cover us, though to be honest it wasn't doing such a good job. My hand swept down from her breast over her hip to the top of her thigh, her skin smooth and cool at my touch. I heard a whimper so looked down to her face, seeing those beautiful blue eyes looking back at me.
"Morning Babe"
"Did we stay out here all night?"
She asked as she looked around. I wasn't going to answer that so simply raised an eyebrow. Our conversation came back to me as the light of the morning continued to strengthen, and it seemed that Steph was thinking the same.
"Will Hector have a laptop that I could use. Not to be connected or anything, just so that I can record my ideas?"
And there she was, my Babe was back, full of the insatiable need to follow the clues. My answer was to stand up with her still in my arms, her legs automatically wrapping themselves around me. I walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower, before stepping under the hot water. I was almost cursing that I had never thought of a pole of a way for Steph to exercise as she showed me some of the interesting moves that she could do using my body as the pole.
Once dressed, with both of us in shorts and a T-shirt we made our way upstairs to find the men, Steph was definitely eager to get on with the day as she grabbed some bagels and sat down next to Santos. Of course he noticed the change in her mood.
"You look happier this morning Beautiful; you have that glow going for you"
That Steph's face flushed as he said it only served to corroborate what Santos was saying and I was ready to have a go at him for making that remark. Steph beat me to it.
"Les. That is none of your business. What is your business though, is the discussion that Ranger and I had beforehand"
As soon as Steph said that I saw the gleam in Santos's eyes, not too sure if I should stop him before he made some wiseass comment.
"Beautiful, I knew it. You've told him that I'm a better man for you"
As he wrapped his arm around Steph's shoulder and kissed her on her cheek, I saw Steph look over to me, maybe worried in case I would do something that would result in me hurting Santos. It was her who retaliated though, by pulling his head close to her mouth. Whatever she whispered to him had the effect of the smile on his face disappearing.
"You wouldn't, you promised"
From the pleading from Santos, it seemed that Steph knew something that Santos didn't want anyone else to know about, making me wonder what the hell it was. It was enough that Santos moved his arm from her shoulder and sat up straighter.
"When we arrive in New Orleans we're going to drive straight to the island"
"Why"
"Won't that be dangerous?"
Came from Ram and CJ at the same time. I waited interested in how Steph would explain why she wanted to do that.
"Is that why you've been so quiet?"
Yeah, Santos had noticed it as well. I suppose he knew her better than the other men and the way that she had been acting over the last couple of days wasn't like her.
"I feel as though I'm in limbo, that there are things that I need to work out. Spending over a week of doing nothing is driving me crazy, I won't run and hide Les, you know that isn't me"
I'd expected Santos to argue with her or try to talk her around, but I think he knew that she was right. The men had arranged this trip with her in mind, to give her a chance to recover, recoup her energy and stay off the radar from anyone looking for her.
"EstefanÃa sabe que es el momento de perseguir y no de perseguir. Necesitamos confiar en su intuición sobre esto (Estefania knows that the time is right to pursue and not be pursued. We need to trust her intuition on this)"
Hector was so right. Okay so maybe there were times when she could rush into a situation, but this wasn't one of them. Her instincts were telling her that she had to be proactive and not to waste time.
I was pleased when each of the other men nodded their heads, understanding perfectly what Hector was saying to them and that was when I sat down opposite Santos to begin our planning for when we arrived in New Orleans.
"Hector, would you give Steph a laptop so that she can record her ideas"
As Hector nodded to me and smiled at Steph, I turned my attention to what we would need to do once we docked.
"Ram"
"I'll make sure the property is ready for us. It'll probably take about 15 hours to drive, do we want to stop on the way?"
I shook my head knowing that would complicate things and to be honest there were enough of us to take turns with the driving.
"CJ, you arrange for the vehicles"
"I'll source three vehicles so that Hector and I can pick up equipment on the way. The way I see it if Steph is with you Ranger, then Ram and Santos can shadow or set up a diversion if you think that you're being followed"
I looked up as Hector sat down, realizing that he'd already set Steph up with what she needed. I'd find her later to look at where her thoughts were taking her and maybe add some more questions of my own to her list. Somehow though, I was pretty sure that knowing how her mind worked she'd have some surprises for me.
"I'll check through the equipment we have on board and make sure that we're covered for travelling"
I knew that meant that Santos would collect together any weapons we had, clean and oil them and reload any magazines. There was also the comms units and utility belts that we'd brought with us envisaging having to support Miguel with his problem.
"I will lay a false trail for anyone who is looking for Estefania"
I nodded to Hector knowing that he could plant information into a variety of data bases, from flights to cash withdrawals, hotel bookings to car hire that would have someone trying to locate us being led all over the states.
"What time do we dock in the morning?"
Because I was feeling slightly uneasy that someone could have worked out that we had sailed out of Mexico.
"1000hrs. What are you thinking Ranger?"
I voiced my concern of having someone watching for us at the dock, maybe I was being paranoid, but keeping Steph safe was very important to me now.
"Don't we have to report our arrival to the nearest Customs and Border Protection port of entry?"
I was pretty sure that would be the case and that we'd have to present our passports. Maybe that would be how someone would know that we'd entered the country.
"Can we leave the boat before we reach New Orleans?"
I was glad that Santos asked the question because I was beginning to see the problem with the original plan now. I would have thought that security would be tight looking for aliens trying to get into the country illegally.
"We probably need to head east of New Orleans, it might be easier to leave the boat under the guise of beach hopping"
I wasn't too sure what CJ meant by that and thought that while we would avoid the authorities doing that, I wasn't too sure how easy that was going to be, especially if we were carrying things with us and had to somehow have access to the vehicles. I continued to look at CJ hoping he'd understand my need for him to give me some more details of what he was suggesting.
"If I was Lukavic and looking for Steph then I'd be checking every route out of Mexico. Planes, cars and boats. I suggest that you and Steph leave here and dive over toward the Navarre Beach Marine Sanctuary, there are plenty of people who use that beach to scuba from, rather than pay to charter a boat. There are hotels, restaurants and shops so a good place to blend into and then all you need to do is get a taxi into Pensacola where we'll meet up with you"
I mulled that idea around in my head and while on the surface I could see it working there might be one large obstacle which would dictate whether or not we did it. After agreeing where to position the boat and the time in the morning, I left the men to work out the rest of the plan. Knowing how Steph had avoided going into the sea and the fact that she had probably never done scuba diving, I knew that the whole plan would depend on her willingness.
I decided to raid the galley for some food seeing as it was lunchtime so armed with a tray, I went to find Steph. After checking all of the usual places I was surprised to find her on the deck off our bedroom. I watched her from the doorway as she sat with a pen and pad of paper in her hands, noticing the writing surrounded by her doodling.
"I brought us some lunch"
I said as I walked behind her before placing the tray on the low table next to her recliner. That had the desired effect of bringing a smile to her face. The papers were dropped on the floor as she leant over to inspect the choice of food.
"Okay, what's the bad news?"
She said as she frowned at the choice of food that I'd brought. Okay, so much for trying to soften her up with food, though I noticed it didn't stop her from reaching over and taking the bowl full of strawberries that were covering the ice cream. I raised an eyebrow at both her comment and the fact that she was eating her dessert first.
"It'll melt, plus I need the boost before I show you how far I've got"
I reached over for the plate of salad that I'd prepared for myself before sitting down on the second lounger facing her. I wanted us to put off any talking until we had both eaten. The dessert finished Steph was soon tucking into the noodles and chicken that I'd found showing her appreciation for the taste of the sweet and sour sauce that had been used. I was almost contemplating postponing our conversation until later but decided to tamp down the arousal her moans were having on me. I'd make her happy and forget the bad news once we'd talked, hopefully making any thought of scuba diving disappear from her mind.
As the empty plates were stacked onto the tray I stood up and settled behind her on her lounger, leaning over to pick up the papers that had been dumped on the floor.
"I've tried to look at this from an outsider's point of view. I was too close to the people involved to be objective"
I heard Steph sigh as she said that knowing that it would have been hard for her to do that. Steph was, if nothing else a very trusting person when it came to people that she thought she knew well.
"Talk me through what you've been thinking Babe"
Knowing that there would be more background to her thinking than what she had managed to write down. I pulled Steph back to lean against me, holding the papers in front of her and waited.
"I started with Ellie, Elaina, seeing as she was the one who started this. I've believed everything that she's told me, I mean why wouldn't I, she's just a young kid out of university so has no experience of the outside world. So, from an outside perspective I questioned what I knew and didn't know about her. The first thing that I asked was, is she who she says she is?"
That had never been a question that I had really asked myself. Yes, I'd done the background research on her and CJ had followed up with looking at her university record and medical details, but Steph was right to ask that question. Was the woman that we all assumed was Elaine Cummings her real identity?
"We've never corroborated her identity Babe. Ram did have the DNA from the bag that was at the station, but he didn't have anything to compare it against. Any information that we have is from research or records"
"That was my first question. Is she who she says she is, or has she hijacked the real Elaine's identity? That brought up so many more concerns if she was someone else, like who is she and why had she done that and where is the real Lainey"
That had me wondering how the hell we could find that out. As I'd said to Steph, we had the DNA of the woman so maybe we needed a comparison. The only place where we might find something that could give us a comparable DNA check might be at the home where she had grown up.
"I'd have to talk to Ram and somehow he'd have to get a sample of something that was hers from her adoptive parents"
"That would be a good first step. I then looked at Lizbeth. I found it strange that she suddenly took on board what a missing father suggested to her, moving to Trenton and then taking over my job. I kept asking myself why she would do that, why suddenly trust him, especially when he'd abandoned her and her mother. To learn more about her motives though that questioned both Correll and Stanley. Was one of them using her?"
I never had liked the vibe from Correll but nothing that I had found gave any foundation to that. Was he what he seemed to be, a man who had access to a hell of a lot of data and who saw something hinkey going on? Or was he the mole that Gregory had suggested that they had in the FBI? Stanley, he'd come to me for help but was he trying to get close to me for some reason?
"I couldn't really think of why Ethan might betray us, though to be honest I don't know him that well"
"I know him to work with Babe. I've done several missions with him in the team. To me he's always been trustworthy but as you said we don't know"
I felt Steph shrug her shoulders as though disappointed that I had nothing more to add for Ethan, but her next question threw me.
"Who knew that you'd done that mission that involved Miguel, that would know that you'd answer his request for help?"
I'd never thought about that, but it was a very valid question that had me thinking through what the answer might be.
"Someone who would have access to highly restricted confidential reports. That could include Raynor, but Correll might also have access"
I didn't like the idea that someone would use those reports as a way to set a trap for me but the probability of that happening seemed to make sense. I'd have to consider who was with me on that mission and who my handler was at the time, just in case there was another thread that led back to Lukavic.
"We left the island because Ethan was sure that someone was hacking into our systems. I thought at first it was because I'd done a search on Lukavic and it had triggered an alert. But he was surprised when I knew who he was, so I don't think the search was responsible. I started to ask if it was because I'd told someone who he was, that I'd managed to identify him?"
"That would mean that it was someone who was with you on the island Babe"
"I know, which brought me right back to Elaina, Lizbeth or Ethan. Stanley wasn't there at the time but that doesn't mean that one of them didn't tell him what I knew"
Which meant that those four would be the first ones that we probed into first when we had better resources. There were still things that were niggling at me, not least was how Raynor or Markovic knew that I'd be travelling on that road from the airport.
"I started to investigate how someone might know that we'd be travelling to Princeton, but I was drawing blanks on that"
"The only person who knew that I might have a defunct laptop was Silvio. I just can't believe that he would tell someone"
I closed my eyes as Steph said the obvious. I'd toyed with the idea that Silvio could have betrayed us, but I didn't want it to be him either.
"I checked through every man's email and bank accounts at Rangeman Miami, including Silvio. I didn't find anything that would suggest who it could have been"
What I hadn't done was to investigate that our movement could have been leaked from Trenton. I'd been very careful when I'd booked the jet, but I had contacted Santos to arrange for a car to meet us at Mercer airport. Hector had been sure that the tracker in the car had been disabled and that would have been the only way of knowing what road we were on, other than the ring that Stanley had given to Steph.
"Could someone other than Stanley have picked up where you were from your ring?"
That was the only explanation that sat comfortably with me.
"Maybe, which brings us back to Elaina, Lizbeth, Ethan or Stanley. Why wait to kidnap me?"
I didn't know the answer to that, unless it took time for Lukavic to work out that he needed a second password to access the program on the laptop.
"Shit, maybe it was because we'd put off doing anything more on those EMPs. We were busy with those other two jobs"
Maybe that was the case but why allow Steph to go to New York and disarm the EMP there? What she'd said didn't add up to me, but I wasn't going to say anything and confuse Steph. For now, I'd keep that thought to myself because I was sure that it would crop up at a later date when we started to figure things out. In the meantime, I had to somehow persuade Steph that us leaving the boat before New Orleans was a good idea. Maybe it was because I'd been quiet, but Steph turned around and looked at me.
"I have no ideas for who the FBI guy is, but I'm pretty sure that it was him that Joe went to. Joe took money under the pretense of helping me to find Lainey. I'm pretty sure when Joe was found and I was gone that was why he was killed"
It made sense to me, after all Morelli could identify the FBI man and someone would be pretty annoyed at him for trying to disappear with Steph. The problem that I had was having no idea of who this man could be and to some extent I couldn't see it being Correll. I certainly didn't want to be asking around which agents Morelli had worked with, that would create too many ripples.
"Spill it, what won't I like"
I had been lost in thought when Steph asked me that and knew that the time had come to discuss us leaving the boat. I hadn't meant for my face to express the unease that I was feeling but I also knew that I didn't want to look closed off to her.
"You're worried about something. I can see it in your eyes"
When had she got so good at reading me?
"The guys think that it would be a bad idea for you to be seen leaving a boat in New Orleans. Someone from Customs and Border Protection is likely to board and register arrivals into the country and are sure that Lukavic will be on the lookout"
I'd given Steph our concerns so waited as she digested that piece of information, hoping that maybe she'd come to the same conclusion as we had on how to leave the boat. From the frown on her face, it seemed that she had no ideas on how to avoid that happening, so I pushed forward with the plan that we'd come up with.
"We're going to stop the boat offshore in the morning and then you and I are going to leave the boat without being seen. We'll use scuba gear to approach the shore and then head to the beach"
"Scuba gear. You mean you want me to use one of those tanks and swim under water?"
The volume of her voice told me that she wasn't too enamored with the idea but somehow I had to talk her around to it being the best way.
"Babe, I'll be right there with you. I would never let anything happen to you. Do you trust me?"
Yeah, I knew I was playing dirty by asking her that but also knew that she had to feel confident in me in order to do this.
"That was low. Of course, I trust you, it's just that I've never been scuba diving before"
I kissed her mouth gently before smiling at her knowing that she was going to agree to give it a go.
"I have and I'm an excellent diver. You'll love it Babe"
As I said that I pulled her close to me and kissed her on her neck. This was the time to make her forget that conversation and focus all of her attention onto me and what I could do for her.
We surfaced in time for dinner, deciding to join the men on the upstairs deck. I was hoping that Santos wasn't going to say anything to Steph, similar to his stupid comment this morning, so gave him a look as we approached. Steph had changed into a sundress and tied her hair back in a ponytail making her look as beautiful as ever and the smile that she gave to the men seemed relaxed so maybe I'd managed to win her over with this wild plan that had been devised.
Dinner was simple, roast chicken with new potatoes and fresh veg, though from the taste I was sure that something sweet had been added to the veg.
"Are we a go for the morning Beautiful?"
As Steph chewed on her food she nodded her head at Santos but was obviously not going to let conversation detract her from eating. Santos was smiling and took her acknowledgement as a yes so proceeded to fill her in with the details for what he wanted her to do next.
"I have a 5mm wet suit that should fit you and found a small facemask. There's also a dry bag, Ranger, to put what you'll need inside"
I started to think through what we would need once on the beach. JC had said that there were shops and restaurants where we would be so it should be easy enough to buy some clothes and food. I'd need to have cash and a phone, and I would prefer to have some weapons on me, just in case.
"What can I take with me Les?"
Yeah, that question had Santos looking at Steph a bit sheepishly. I doubted that he would have thought that Steph might have things that she'd want to take.
"Err, Beautiful, it's only a small bag. Maybe big enough for some cash and a phone"
"So I'm supposed to walk around in a wet suit? Not happening Les"
"You'll have a swimsuit on underneath the wet suit"
I was glad that it was Santos who was taking the brunt of Steph's annoyance as he said that but to be honest I saw no problem to her only wearing a bikini on the beach.
"There are shops there, you can buy some new clothes"
I smiled at hearing the panic in Santos's voice but wasn't too sure if Steph was trying to wind him up.
"A hat and sunglasses, Les. At least that way I can try to disguise myself"
I had a feeling that those two things would definitely be in the dry bag when we entered the water in the morning.
"Steph, can I check on your stitches?"
I was surprised at hearing CJ asking that of Steph. The cut on her leg was healing really well and she hadn't complained of any pain. I watched as Steph nodded her head and stood up, following CJ inside to where they'd have more privacy. I was in two minds to follow them but decided to trust Steph to tell me if CJ thought that there was a problem. I watched from a distance as Steph laid down on the fabric couch by the window and as CJ sat on the edge facing where her wound was. What surprised me though was that after checking her wound they seemed to spend an age talking.
It seemed that it was CJ who was showing Steph the wetsuit that she would be wearing so that was when I decided that I needed to be with her.
"This belt goes around your waste, because believe it not you'd float without it"
"Even with those tanks on?"
I smiled as Steph said that knowing that she wouldn't understand just how buoyant her suit and equipment would be. I wandered over to where they were talking and noticed the equipment laid out on the floor and realized that CJ was talking Steph through what she would be wearing.
Mask, fins and wet suit were obvious, so CJ started with an explanation of the air tank.
"Okay, the webbed harness holds the tank and is secured on your back. Once in the water you won't even notice how heavy it is. This is called a regulator and makes it possible for you to breathe the air from your tank by converting the high pressure air into ambient pressure. It has something called a first stage, which connects to the tank or diving cylinder you wear on your back, and a second stage, the part of the regulator that you put in your mouth"
I watched as Steph felt and held each piece of equipment as CJ talked the look on her face was very serious especially when she looked over to some of the other equipment.
"Babe, I'll be wearing these and watching the gauges. This tells me how deep we are. The compass will ensure that we're heading in the right direction. That gauge displays the amount of air in the tank. We don't want to go too deep so to stay at the depth that we want I might use this device. It stops you from sinking or floating too high, but I'll manage that for you. All you have to do is hold onto my hand"
I really didn't want to overwhelm her with so many details so was happy when CJ picked up the mask and regulator.
"Have you used a mask before Steph?"
At her nod CJ passed the mask to Steph and we watched as she pulled it on over her face. I checked the straps myself to ensure they were at the right tension and CJ passed the regulator to her. We all smiled as Steph started to breathe in and out through it witthout any problems because so many times I'd seen men gag on having it in their mouths.
"Water can get inside the mask. If that happens then take in a breath of air and blow it out of your nose while you tilt the mask away from your mouth. Try it Steph"
That done successfully I was sure that Steph seemed more confident with using the equipment, the challenge for her would be in taking the plunge into the open water.