Chapter 45

I wasn't sure what she was referring to, maybe the whole issue that had started with her looking for Elaina, or even the recent experience at the barn. Hell, it could be because of us being here for so long. I was feeling frustrated at being here, feeling stuck and trying to fill the time. I knew that Steph needed to move forward and maybe going places with Coral was her way of staying sane, so maybe I couldn't blame her for what she'd done.

"I got a message before I saw you, we're being picked up soon so should be out of here"

I'd expected a reaction to that news but got nothing, no relief that the men were okay or that someone was on their way. Something was definitely wrong with my Babe and I needed to know what it was.

"Babe, talk to me. What's got you so upset"

"I can't. You won't like what I have to say"

I'd heard her say that before, after she escaped from Stanley's house. Was there something that she still hadn't told me, but what the hell did she think was so bad that she would think that of me. I turned her around to face me, my hands on her shoulders, noting that she still wouldn't look at me.

"Babe, there is nothing that you can say, nothing that you could have done that would make me love you any less than I do"

Her breaking down into tears and sobs hadn't been what I'd expected but I wasn't going to be put off by that, instead I pulled her to me, her head nestled against my chest and her legs on either side of my legs. I'd do whatever I could and at the moment and if that meant just holding her then that would be what I would do. I rocked her gently as she cried, my heart breaking a little at each sob that escaped from her. As her sobs seemed to quieten, I knew from how she felt in my arms that she'd cried herself to sleep. A quick look at my phone to read the message that had arrived while I'd sat there, told me that our rendezvous would be happening at 1800hrs. That was five hours from now and hopefully after Coral and her friends had left. I stood up slowly with Steph held tightly to me and made my way back to the camp. Seeing Coral sat with her arms around a new face told me that her boyfriend had arrived, so I avoided them and sat at a distance beyond the bantering between the group.

I watched as they finished eating, started to clear their things away and knew that the time was due for me to talk to Coral. I laid Steph carefully on her side, being sure that she was in a deep sleep, then stood up and made my way over to Coral. Stepping away from the others I saw her looking over to Steph before she looked at me.

"A friend is picking us up. Thank you for allowing us to share some time with you"

Coral didn't seem surprised that we were going to be parting ways and actually blushed when I thanked her.

"Show her and tell her how much you love her"

Were her parting words before she turned and began to climb into the driver's seat of the van. I wasn't too sure why she would say that to me because it was something that I was always saying to her. Maybe Steph still felt unsure of what we had, hell I couldn't blame her. How many years had I tried to maintain a distance between us because I didn't feel that I deserved someone like her, that I couldn't give her what she needed. All of those thoughts were far behind me, and I was determined to be the man that she needed and loved.

I returned to Steph and picking her up found a place hidden in the trees, a place that allowed me to keep a lookout for anything approaching us and a place that was warm and sheltered. In the bottom of the dry bag I unfolded my gun from its protective wrapping and spent time time cleaning it and ensuring that it was fully loaded then with my gun within reach I waited and watched, something that I had done so many times in the past that it came as second nature.

I heard the sound of an engine before I saw the vehicle. It threw me that I seemed to recognize the powerful rev of the engine as it coasted by and was considering that maybe this rendezvous had been a trap after all. I was poised and ready with my gun aimed at where the vehicle would appear with Steph still asleep behind me. The sight of a grey 2008, Dodge Ram 1500 Truck, SXT had me puzzled. It looked and sounded like the one that I'd acquired when I'd taken on the mission from Raynor. But what the hell was it doing here? Was it a coincidence that Lukavic might have the same truck? There only looked to be one person inside but that wasn't fooling me. There could be others hidden below the windows ready to pounce out as soon as I showed myself. I watched as the driver door opened and heard the back door opening, ready for men to be stealthily crawling from behind the car. The driver came around the car and opened the other front door before he turned to the last door. I had to be sure of who I was seeing but at least I now knew there was no one else in the car and I hadn't heard any other sounds to indicate an assault of the position. Why the hell was Lapira here? He stood with his arms held up in the air just waiting. Checking that Steph was how I had left her I moved forward and came out onto the track, now sure that the man stood waiting for me was in fact Lapira.

"Hey boss man. I know you aint expecting me, but I got a message from Hector to move my arse down here and to pick you and your woman up"

Lapira certainly looked better than the last time that I'd seen him, cleaner with no bruises evident and even a little bulkier than he had been.

"I have to give you this, just in case you don't recognize me"

I took a phone from his outstretched hand, recognizing it as a secure SAT phone and looked at the number on the contact list. Pressing the call button I waited for an answer surprised to be hearing Tank's voice.

"Rangeman, the men hit a problem on arrival"

"Are they okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. They're chasing around the country trying to lose the men who were following them and then Santos got the bright idea of tracking them when they looked to have given up"

"The man here?"

I asked looking at Lapira who was leant against the car.

"Hector had him picking up equipment that was needed and meeting him, so he was in the area, well almost"

That had me wondering what Hector was doing.

"Hector?"

"Setting up at your destination with Ram. CJ and Santos are tracking"

I was at a loss as to who was where and why Hector and Ram hadn't picked us up, but at least now we had transport.

"How's my Little Girl?"

I wasn't sure but wasn't going to worry Tank.

"She's fine"

"Good. Talk soon"

I handed the phone back to Lapira and then returned to the wooded area where Steph was. She was sat up looking around as I approached and had started to shuffle her way backwards away from me.

"Babe, it's okay. Our lift is here"

I spoke softly as I held out my hand to her, pleased when she took it so that I could pull her to feet. I kept my arm around her waist as we emerged from the trees. I felt her hesitate as Lapira came into view but then she was walking toward him.

"Is it really you?"

"Sure is darlin. You don't look as peachy as you did. You doing okay, 'cos I'm here now to transport you somewhere that you can rest up and relax"

A small smile escaped from Steph's face as she finished walking up to him and gave him a hug. I resisted the temptation to say anything to Lapira for fear of upsetting Steph, shit she really did hold all of the power over me.

It was a long drive down to Islamorada, 560 miles, which took us nearly 8 hours. Steph opted to sit in the back, on her own, while I made sure that I was driving. Lapira tried his best to make either one of us talk but eventually gave up. At least he stayed awake and was alert to the traffic around us which was probably a good thing because I was distracted thinking about Steph. I was constantly checking the rear-view mirror to check on her. She'd turned sideways on the seat with her legs tucked up next to her and her head against the back of the seat. When she wasn't asleep, she simply stared out of the window, never looking forward to where I was.

It was close to 0200hrs when I pulled off the main road onto the causeway that linked the island to the mainland. Someone must have been looking out for us because the two sets of gates opened for us to pass through.

Terra's Key had a main house, on stilts with an attached separate dwelling that had been converted into living accommodation. I parked the truck under the cover of trees next to another much older looking truck that I assumed was what Hector and Ram had been using. No sooner had we come to a stop than the back door opened, and I watched as Hector helped Steph from her seat. After hugging her and some whispered exchanges he was soon leading her into the main house, no doubt showing her around. I greeted Ram with a knuckle bump but seeing Lapira opening the flatback of the truck we were all carrying boxes into the attached building. I wasn't surprised to see the main room packed with electronic equipment, computers with screens showing every area of the island and the causeway with the two gates.

I was still ramped up from the drive so wasn't ready to sleep yet but watched as Hector came in.

"Estefania asleep"

I nodded my head at him, to thank him for looking after her and decided to give her some space on her own.

"Report"

Was all I needed to say to Ram and Hector as I took a bottle of water from Lapira and sat down.

"The distraction worked well and Santos acting so drunk kept the officials out of the way. After they left and we were unloading our bags was when we noticed men skulking around the marina. One bastardo thought he could sneak onto the boat, so we let him. There was nothing for him to find but it encouraged some others to follow us into New Orleans. We split up, but they were persistent. Ram and I took separate flights out, each with our own tail. I lost mine in Houston and Ram his in Atlanta. We met up in Orlando and lost ourselves amongst the tourists. There was no way we were going to be able to hire cars and pick you up"

"Santos and CJ?"

"Spent the night and the next day with their tails, hitting every bar in the city. By the second night they'd acquired a vehicle so when their tails looked as though they'd had enough and decided that Santos and CJ were just two drunkards Santos and CJ turned the tables and started to follow them"

"Where did they end up?"

I watched the smile cross Hector's face before he answered me, meaning that I was probably going to be pleased with what he was about to say.

"Markovic's house"

Yeah, that was a good result. We'd left the surveillance cameras in place from when we'd been watching Markovic, so all Santos needed to do was link into the system from that cabin that we'd used.I found it interesting that Lukavic had decided to use that house. It wasn't a location that I expected him be, but I suppose the house was secure.

I was ready for sleep as I walked across the small, paved area and took the stairs up into the house. Hector was unpacking the supplies that had been brought down while Ram was patrolling the island and Lapira was catching some sleep. A quick glance as I passed through the room was of an open plan area serving as a kitchen, dining and lounge area. The floors were tiled with light pastel colors on any walls, though most of the walls were taken up with windows. No doubt the views from those would be amazing during the day. Stairs led up again to where I assumed was the master bedroom. I stood in the doorway just watching Steph sleep, the moonlight on her skin seeming to make her seem paler than she was. Finding the bathroom, I took a quick shower to scrub away the sand, dirt and sweat of the past few days. Shaving could wait until the morning and to be honest I had no idea what clothes were here so forgoing any type of clothing I very carefully slid into the bed next to Steph. Even in her sleep she seemed to sense my presence, so I fell into a contented sleep with her wrapped around me.

Maybe it was the light coming in through the open window that woke me, but I was immediately aware that I was on my own. A clock by the side of the bed told me that it was only 0515 so I was immediately worried where Steph was. Quickly pulling on the dirty board shorts I checked the bathroom only to find it empty so headed for the stairs in order to find her. Standing in the empty downstairs room I considered that maybe she'd gone to find one of the men or even decided to explore where we were. That was when I heard running water coming from a door underneath the stairs, one that I hadn't noticed the night before. I carefully opened the door to find myself in a bathroom but what had me concerned was seeing Steph knelt down by the toilet, her arm around the top and her head resting on it. It was probably her retching that covered the sound of me approaching, but I was quickly knelt down beside her, pushing her braided hair away from her face.

"It's okay Babe"

Maybe it was the food that she'd eaten yesterday, though to be honest she hadn't eaten that much.

"Are you feeling better?"

Knowing that sometimes ridding anything that was in the stomach could help. Her skin was so pale as I watched her, her eyes closed not even acknowledging my presence.

"Do you need a doctor?"

Because if she was ill then I'd organize for her to see one. I felt her shake her head and as she seemed to have stopped being sick gently pulled her down to sit across me, stroking her head and cheek as I held her to me.

"Babe. Are you feeling more settled now?"

No response again, but I could feel her tears running down her cheeks and onto my chest.

"Whatever you need I'll organize it, but I need for you tell me what's wrong"

I was surprised when her hands came up to her face and she wiped the tears from her eyes but then sat up so that she wasn't against me.

"There's nothing you can do Ranger. Maybe I need to stay somewhere else"

Why the hell would she say that? I turned her face to look at me, seeing that her eyes were dry now and something about the expression on her face scared me. Was it a resigned look, as though she'd come to a decision? Was she going to be leaving me?

"Babe, I love you too much to have you leave me. Is that it, you've realized that you don't want to be with me anymore?"

I was holding my breath as I waited for her answer because to honest, I wasn't sure what I would do if she walked away from me, if she told me that she didn't want to be with me.

"No. I love you so much it hurts"

"Then why would you leave me?"

I had so many thoughts chasing around through my head trying to find some sort of logical explanation for why she would do that. I know that she saw herself responsible for me being captured and hurt by Lukavic, but we'd talked that through, hadn't we?

"I've ruined everything. You won't want me now"

I was almost becoming frustrated with us talking in circles and decided that one way or another she was going to tell me what the hell she thought was so bad.

"How about you let me know what the hell is so goddamn awful and then I'll tell how I feel about it"

I hadn't meant to raise my voice, it just happened, and I immediately regretted it when Steph stiffened and closed her eyes. When she opened her eyes, she wouldn't look at me which only had me worrying more.

"I'm pregnant"

Came to me as a whisper, soft and gentle against my senses. I couldn't react, I was totally thrown by hearing that one word. My immediate thought was how the hell that had happened and maybe I frowned as I considered that question. It was my second thought though that had a smile cross my face. My Babe was pregnant with my, our baby.

"A baby"

Came from my lips as though to confirm that I'd heard correctly. Then I had a sinking feeling as the thought that maybe the father was someone else. Was that what had her so worried, that she'd slept with another man and fallen pregnant? I honestly wasn't sure how to feel about that, but knew that I needed to know.

"Our baby?"

I nod of her head dispelled any worries that I'd felt and a new unusual feeling began to take its place.

"I don't expect anything from you, I know that this doesn't fit into your life plans, so I won't bother you with it"

Steph made to move, as though to get to her feet, so I had to band my arms around her to keep her where she was.

"A baby, my baby, our baby. Why wouldn't I want that?"

Now it was her turn to frown as though she hadn't a clue what I was saying. That had me worrying in case she had plans to get rid of it. I knew that Steph had always been frightened to death with the prospect of having children, surely, she wouldn't do that would she, because I wanted that baby, our baby. A feeling came over me that I had never before experienced before, even when Rachel had told me that she was pregnant, that of absolute joy.

"Babe, I want this baby with you. To be the father that I never was, to love it and care for it and with you by my side to watch it grow up"

"You do?"

"Yeah" came from my mouth before I was kissing her with every emotion that I could muster.