Chapter 47

Start at the beginning came to mind so as I paced up and down the beach, I was trying to work out what beginning to start at. When I'd spoken to Eula and become involved with looking for a missing girl or when Ellie had first gone to Serbia. I opted for the second door, after all I didn't know much about that, Ellie had never really spoken about it.

Over the next three days I fell into a routine. Ranger provided me with ginger tea and crackers each morning while I stayed in bed, which settled my stomach enough to be able to avoid praying to the porcelain in the bathroom. After a shower I'd head down to the building, yeah, that was what I ended up calling the place where Hector and Lapira stayed. After catching up with any new findings, which were proving to be difficult to find, I'd pick Hector's brains for programs that would help me. A few hours on the beach working with a nap before lunch when Ranger would find me before I spent a few more hours working before a long swim in the pool. After that, well it might involve another nap or some one on one time with Ranger before dinner and relaxing, then more one on one time before falling asleep.

By the fourth day I was starting to pull together all the pieces of Ellie's life from the phone that she owned, her spending habits, to surveillance cameras at the university and at the airports where she had flown from. I'd decided to collect everything together first and then spend time going through it, not my usual method but I had the feeling that I'd be switching between the sources that I needed and having to break my train of thought to do that could mean I might lose the direction that I was going in.

I had chosen the decked area to work in because I needed a table to spread all the things I was going to be using. That included three open laptops, hey, who says I can't multitask? I'd discovered Ellie's timetable for lectures and with the help of a map of the university discovered two cameras that sort of covered the area. That was where I started and six hours later, I finished up with the footage at the airport when Ellie came back from Serbia. I was absolutely exhausted and wasn't feeling too good either but there was no way that I wasn't going to finish.

It was dark when I opened my eyes and I realized that I was laid down on somewhere comfortable. My head felt a bit fuzzy as I tried to fathom out what had happened. I could remember finishing pulling out all of that information, then nothing. So how was I wherever I was and why was Ranger here with me? Yeah, I may have felt like shit, but I knew that he was right next to me, holding my hand and running circles with his thumb in my palm.

"How are you feeling Babe?"

"Err, not fine"

I heard a chuckle come from across the room and looked over to see the silhouette of another figure. I had no idea who it was and felt myself squeezing Ranger's hand.

"It's okay Babe. I had to call in a medic"

As the figure approached, I recognized Bobby, wondering how he was even here. Wasn't he meant to be in Trenton?

"Ranger wouldn't have anyone else treat you Bomber. He called me for advice, but I decided to head down here instead"

I closed my eyes at thinking about how much trouble I'd caused. Having Bobby here could have alerted someone to where we were. What the hell was wrong with me to warrant Ranger calling Bobby? I moved my free arm to bring it to my face but discovered I had a tube attached to it.

"What the hell?"

"Bomber, you'd been working without eating or drinking anything all day. Your energy levels were down, and you were dehydrated, not good for you or the baby"

And that was why Ranger had been so worried about me. Damn it, this being pregnant wasn't easy and I was only about a quarter way through. How the hell was I going to get through the rest?

"I'm sorry, I have been trying to be more careful, but this morning, well I just had to finish once I got started."

I mean hadn't I been having naps and regular meals? I was even making sure that I was exercising. Today, okay maybe I hadn't thought about anything except focusing on that work. This was one of the reasons I was so afraid of being pregnant and having a baby. I couldn't look after myself let alone a baby.

"Babe. I know that you've been looking after yourself and today, well you lost yourself in the work, but you scared the shit out of me"

That was what was upsetting me the most because I would never want to worry him like that. A slight pull on my hand and I noticed that Bobby had pulled out the IV and was moving the tube and bag. It wasn't long before he was opening the door and leaving.

"How was Bobby here so quickly?"

Because surely, I hadn't been ill for that long had I?

"He was in Miami doing the annual medicals, so it didn't take him long to get here and no one knows where he is"

Miami, there was something that was niggling at the back of my head when Ranger mentioned the place. I knew that was where we flew from when I had the laptop but that wasn't it. There was something else, but my brain was just too fuzzy to remember. I felt as Ranger got into bed with me, happy to be able to turn toward him and rest my head on his shoulder. I wasn't sure if Bobby would be here when I woke up, but I wasn't going to allow myself to get into the same state again.

The following morning, I woke feeling normal, well normal for me. As I moved, I realized that I was still being held by Ranger.

"Good morning Babe"

"Hey. Is it still early?"

Because usually he was up and out before me.

"I wanted to be here when you woke up. Are you ready for your tea and crackers?"

I shook my head as I held him tighter to me needing a few more minutes of having him close to me. As I released my hold and allowed him to move, it wasn't long before I was sat up in bed sipping on my tea. I was surprised when a tray appeared on the bed and Ranger crawled in next to me. It seemed that we were both going to be enjoying breakfast in bed. I even managed to steal some of his oatmeal without it affecting my stomach. I wasn't sure whether to be pleased with that or not. Yeah, I was pleased that it was staying down but not so pleased with the boring taste.

"Is Bobby still here?"

I asked, wondering if he'd be paying me a visit to check up on me.

"No. He went back to Miami last night, that way no one will suspect where he had been"

Which meant that Bobby hadn't been too worried about me though why Ranger had called him was still illuding me.

"Why did you call him?"

"No one had seen you all morning, so I started to get worried. You were asleep over the table, but I was struggling to wake you up. You kept pushing me away and saying to leave you alone. When you stopped complaining and I still couldn't wake you, I called Bobby. He reckoned that you were probably dehydrated but I felt he needed to know why I was so worried"

"I'm sorry, I never felt ill, maybe tired. I got so involved in what I was following up with"

The tapes that I'd been so absorbed in yesterday came back to me and I was remembering why I felt something was niggling at me last night, the mention of Miami.

"I tagged Ellie from when she was attending her lectures at uni, and then when she left the country and returned. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary at the university, but the airport was interesting. A man accompanied her to Miami airport on her way out of the country. He was even with her until she went through security, as though to make sure that she caught the flight. So I went back through the tapes that Hector, err, provided for me. I wanted to find a better image, so I had to flip through the cameras to find him again. I found him outside the main door where he was talking to another man. I didn't recognize either of them"

I knew I had his attention and that he was keen to see what I'd found but instead of rushing out he stayed where he was, just holding me. Maybe it was me that was getting a bit antsy at staying here in bed and as my stomach felt okay, I started to move away from Ranger as though to get up from the bed.

"Are you feeling well enough to get up?"

So that was why he was still with me, he was worried about me.

"Yeah, maybe if I learn to take my time in the morning then my stomach won't complain"

Thirty minutes later we were downstairs, and I was holding a bottle of water while finding the tapes with the airport footage on. Ranger paused the image with Ellie and a man with her, as she was about to go through security. It wasn't a great image, a bit grainy and he had his back to the camera so I didn't think Ranger would be able to recognize him even if he knew who he was. I went to the second view from outside and played through what had caught my eye.

"I think this is the same man, he has the same jacket on, and he's carrying the same rucksack"

I watched as Ranger paused and replayed the video footage. I wasn't sure if he'd seen something that I'd missed, or if he was trying to work out if he might actually know one of them.

"The man outside, I feel that I know him, but I don't know where from. The one with Ellie could be anyone. The whole outfit screams disguise"

I suppose that it would, now that I looked at it again. The jacket gave the impression of someone big while the rucksack had him almost stooping. Hair, glasses and facial hair were probably as Ranger had said, a disguise. I wondered if that was how he presented himself to Ellie or if she'd seen him without the disguise.

"I can't find any information that would suggest that Stanley is anything than what he says. I've spoken to a lot of veterans who served with him, and they have a high regard for him. He's still in touch with a lot of them so no doubt he knows that we're asking questions"

It made me wonder where Stanley was and what he was doing, if he was laying low like us or following his own clues, after all he was an excellent investigator.

"Did you work out who knew the connection that you had with Miguel?"

"Too many, Babe. Anyone who has the clearance could have looked up the report from that mission. Then there were the people who collected intel and of course the men with me on that mission"

Damn, that was another lead that wasn't going to be coming to fruition any time soon but maybe if we had enough pieces from everywhere else then it might become obvious.

"You know that Ethan was with me as part of the job I was doing. I chose him for the job and made sure that I did full background on him. I'm confident that we don't have anything to worry about with regard to him. Colonel Raynor is the difficult one to find out about. I don't want to alert him that I have suspicions, because he'll make sure to cover his tracks"

I could understand what Ranger was saying, hell being a colonel probably afforded him a lot of leeway with what he did. I wasn't even sure if someone like him was answerable to anyone else. Maybe Hector or Lapira had had better luck with the others. Having finished the breakfast and the full bottle of water I wanted to see what the others had found out, so I tidied away both of our dishes and continued on to the front of the house to where the stairs were that led down. We were just crossing the area toward the building, I needed a name for it, when I heard someone call out my name. Turning I watched as a car was slowing down at the end of the drive but couldn't work out who had called out my name. I looked at Ranger who suddenly stood in front of me with his gun drawn, obviously unsure of who was here.

"Está bien, es Santos. Le abrimos las puertas"

I heard Hector mention the name Santos so assumed that it was Les that had called out to me. I couldn't understand why Ranger still had his gun out and aimed at the SUV that had parked up, especially as Les had got out of the driver's door and was heading toward us with a big grin on his face. That grin soon disappeared though especially as Ram appeared behind the SUV pointing a rifle in his direction. In fact, I think that I was as shocked as Les when Hector stood, twirling his blades and even Lapira was holding a gun.

"Ranger?"

I started to move from behind him, but his arm held me back as though Les was suddenly the enemy. I peeked around Ranger, glad to see that his attention was no longer on Les and that Les was walking slowly toward us.

"Ranger, what the hell?"

That was when I noticed that two figures had left the SUV from the other side, and were slowly walking around the car. I froze, well I held on tighter to Ranger, as I watched Ellie and Ethan stood next to the car, obviously aware of the guns and knives being aimed at them.

"Ranger, they're clean. You need to hear what Ellie has to say and then you'll understand better"

I could just imagine Les as he tried to plead their case, but I was with Ranger on this one, I didn't trust Ellie as far as I could throw her. She'd already lied to me so why should I believe anything that she said now?

"Beautiful, you just need to hear her out"

I stayed where I was as Les approached us but could see that Ram had approached the SUV and was now frisking them down. He found two guns and a knife on Ethan, which he threw on the ground out of reach before turning to Ellie. Both of them accepted the position they were in, holding their hands above their heads until Ram stepped back from them. I wasn't too sure what was going to happen next so almost jumped as Ranger turned around and took my arm, leading me to the stairs with Les in tow. A quick look back and it seemed that Ethan and Ellie were being shown to somewhere else. Well, being shown was probably an understatement seeing as they had several guns aimed at them.

Once upstairs I stayed out of the way because it seemed to me that both Les and Ranger were furious with each other.

"Ranger, I brought them here because they're innocent"

"Innocent! How the hell do you know that you haven't led them straight to Steph"

"I wouldn't do that. Ellie told me everything"

"That she's working for a government agency?"

"Yeah. But she can't figure out if it's kosher or not"

That had Ranger looking at me because that was what I'd already voiced. Her admitting that to Les didn't make me feel any happier, maybe it was her way of trying to weasel herself out of any involvement about what had already happened to me.

"She just wants to talk to Steph, to explain everything"

"Not happening Santos"

"What the hell do you think she might do, attack Steph?"

I was sure that the temperature in the room dropped as Ranger glared at Les. Les, well he was looking back and forth between Ranger and me, unsure of why Ranger was so annoyed.

"I won't have Steph anywhere near that woman on her own"

Okay that had Les frowning. I suppose he thought that Ellie would never hurt me, but I understood why Ranger was being so protective. He wouldn't want the risk to me and our baby, and he wouldn't want anyone to know. I stood up, deciding that if Les knew what we knew, then maybe he'd understand why Ranger was so opposed to me talking with Ellie.

"Les. I found out that Ellie was working for someone, who I don't know. She lied to me, to us all Les, so why wouldn't she be lying now?"

I watched as Les deflated, all of the anger ebbing out of his body. He sat down and wiped his hands over his face hopefully understanding why Ranger was so annoyed.

"I can't risk her telling someone where Steph is Les"

Les looked up at me as though he was waiting for me to say something, to have some scheme that would help to resolve the issue of Ellie being here. Yeah, in the past I admit that I would have come up with some hairbrained scheme to use myself as bait to catch the bad guys. But not now, the risk was too high, and Ranger would never allow it to happen. Ranger saw the look that Les gave me and even he seemed to lose that edge of fury that he'd been carrying. He came over to me, standing behind me with his hands splayed over my stomach. It was such a simple gesture, but it conveyed so much.

"Lester"

I saw the surprise cross Les's face when Ranger used his first name. I assumed that it wasn't usual, but it conveyed a family thing, seeing as Les was Ranger's cousin.

"Steph, well, we're expecting a baby. So, I won't put Steph in any danger"

"You're pregnant?"

I rolled my eyes at the stupid comment, though I could see that Les looked surprised.

"Yeah. That's usually term when you're going to have a baby"

The grin on Les's face sparked into a full on smile, and he was suddenly in front of me with his arms around the both of us, kissing my cheek and then Ranger's.

"I'm gonna be the best uncle ever. That's the best news I've had in years"

As he stepped away from us his smile faded making me wonder what he was thinking that could be wrong.

"Shit. I understand why you were so defensive and why you would be annoyed at me for bringing Ellie and Ethan here"

"Santos no one has to find out about Steph, that would put her in even more danger"

Les went over to fridge and took out three bottles of water, passing one to me and Ranger before he sat at the table. We sat down with him, knowing that we needed to talk about Ellie and what to do next. I unscrewed the top off the bottle and started to drink the water thinking through what to do for the best.

"We have to listen to what she has to say"

I said more to myself than the others. Hell, she was here, and maybe she could fill us in with some details. Maybe I might be able to work out if what she was telling us was a load of bullshit. She wasn't the only one who had changed over the last two months. I wasn't that happy go lucky woman who believed everything that I was told.

"Where'd they take them?"

I asked, hoping that wherever it was wasn't some sort of dungeon.

"The boathouse"

I think that I'd seen that place when I was on the beach so was relieved that they were somewhere away from where we were sleeping and working. As I put the empty bottle down on the table Ranger stood up and took my hand.

"One hour and then you eat and rest"

Mmm, maybe bossy Ranger was one of my favorites as well. Maybe it was the way I'd looked at him because he shook his head with a glint in his eyes, but it was enough for me to know that I wouldn't be resting on my own. As we approached the boat house, I knew how this was going to happen.

"I'll do all of the talking, you just watch and listen. I want her to feel uncomfortable so when we go back, she'll likely open up more"

To be honest I was feeling a little pissed off when I went into that boat house, pissed off because there was the possibility that Ellie had not only lied to me, but she had betrayed me as well.

As soon as I walked inside Ellie was on her feet and moving toward me. I'd put up my hand to stop her and sat at the table that was in the middle of the room. Ethan wasn't there and it was just Ranger, Les and me with her, so I was hoping she was feeling a little intimidated. I was surprised when she wasn't looking at me, instead she seemed to be watching Ranger and Les, so I said her name to get her attention.

"Ellie"

When that didn't have the desired effect, I reverted to the longer version.

"Elaina, I need some answers and I need the truth and don't think that I won't know if you're lying"

Hearing me, Ellie sat down on the only available chair and that was directly opposite me. She was sat back in the chair which to me implied that she wasn't worried, so I started with the questions, trying to get straight to what concerned me.

"Who was the man that took you to the airport in Miami when you first went to Serbia?"

Ellie sat forward and sighed, appearing that she wasn't surprised at what I was asking almost resigned to the fact that yes, I knew more than she thought.

"I put in applications to everywhere for when I finished university, just like everyone else. Then out of the blue, this man approached me when I was walking back to my apartment. He told me his name was Hubbert and that he worked for the FBI. He approached me just before I'd finished my course, telling me that he thought I might have the potential to work for them. He told me to make sure that I maintained my work level and that he'd be in touch. After he'd walked away, I couldn't believe it, I mean that was a dream job, every person on my course was trying to get into somewhere like that. I worked hard but to be honest I'd almost talked myself into believing he was having a joke with me"

"After uni officially ended, he found me again, at the café where I worked and said that he needed me for a special job. In some ways I was disappointed that it was because of being born in Serbia, but I thought if I did a good job then that was sure to get me employed"

"What did he ask you to do?"

"He told me who my father was, though I already knew that because I'd been in touch with the adoptive agency. He also told me that my father had left some important work in Serbia. I was supposed to find out about his work by talking to my mother and people who had been friends with my father"

"Did he tell you what the work was?"

"No, he said that was for me to find out. All he would tell me was where I could find my mother. Maybe I seemed a bit hesitant because the next thing I knew he'd arranged to take me to the airport and stayed with me until I went through security"

"The driver?"

I watched as Ellie frowned at that question as though she had never seen it as being important.

"I don't know, I'd never seen him before, and I've never seen him since"

"Who did you talk to in Serbia?"

"My mother and then Savic. I never did like him, but he was someone who had worked with my father. To be honest, when I found out what my father did, it scared me. That the FBI were interested in something to do with nuclear physics didn't sit well with me"

"Ellie, I know you must have met other people"

I didn't, but I couldn't see that her being there would be missed by people and hadn't someone else acquired a copy of her birth certificate.

"Yeah, this man turned up one day when I was leaving my mother's building. He was driving a fancy car and wore a smart suit. He said that he was a relative, maybe an uncle, and wanted to get to know me. Shit, he gave me the creeps. I think he knew Savic but didn't refer to him by name. He wined and dined me and tried to be nice to me but then he started asking questions about why I was there. He changed, became more demanding and even threatening. That was when I decided to leave Serbia, fuck the job with the FBI"

"So, Hubbert met you at the airport, what happened then?"

I saw Ellie look down at her hands, yeah, she'd lied about that as well.

"He was full of praise for how well I'd done. I had no idea what he meant but he said I'd done well and that we needed to move on to the next phase of the operation. He drove me to Trenton, though I had no idea why there. I didn't lie to you about being kept in that house. Every time I asked what was happening, he refused to answer me and then he stopped calling. I was getting scared, so I ran, but I didn't know where to go"

"Why change your name and looks?"

"To try and disappear, so no one would recognize me. But I was curious. I wanted to know who my father had become and assumed that maybe Hubbert was intending to get me to meet him and get the information directly from him"

Something felt off with the explanation that she was giving to me, so I just stared at her as though telling her that I thought it was bullshit. I watched as Elaina looked down at her hands and then back to me. Yeah, she knew that I didn't believe what she'd just said. It was after she took in a deep breath and let it out that she started again.

"Okay. Hubbert eventually called and told me that he needed me to move onto the next case. He wanted me to find out about why some homeless people were disappearing. That was why I ended up on the streets, but I thought it might give me an opportunity to find out something about my father. The thing is I always felt as though I was being watched. I made the usual rounds, the shelters and the camps"

"You also reported to Hubbert"

"Yes. He'd given me a watch that was a transmitter, I used that. When I got kidnapped from the camp, I was honestly scared, and I hit the panic mode on the watch. I was pretty desperate when you found me, and I really was grateful for you helping me. I think they used my watch to follow us so when they took you, I was so damned pissed. I smashed that watch and followed you"

"Have you spoken to Hubbert since?"

Ellie shook her head at me and to be honest I think that I believed her.

"I had a lot of time when I was on the streets to think about him and what he'd asked me to do. Being on my own, it hardened me, made me start thinking clearer. I started to question what the hell was going on"

I watched as Ellie took in a deep breath before she looked up and at me again.

"He was using me Steph, setting me up as bait. I didn't have it all worked out to start with but finding out that Markovic only wanted me because I might be a match to him, well that really threw me. Finding you again and us having that money and passports was when I decided that I needed to find out what was going on for real, for me"

"You said that you saw Morelli talking to someone outside that bunker, did you recognize him, could he have been Hubbert?"

It would make sense to me especially if he thought that I could find her again. Morelli really screwed up when he decided to ignore what he'd been asked to do, and I suppose it was because I'd left him that someone decided that he was of no use to them. Shit was it because of me that he'd been killed? My thoughts were interrupted as Ellie started to answer my question, so I pushed them to the back of my mind.

"I don't know. Hubbert had a goatee and longer hair. He usually wore glasses, but I suppose he could have used a disguise for when he met me. I'd recognize his voice though because he never attempted to conceal that"

"What about Lukavic?"

"Who?"

I noticed the surprise on Ellie's face so maybe he had never told her his name, but was it surprise that I knew of him or was it because I was questioning her about him? Thinking back to when we had left that cabin, I couldn't remember if I'd actually told any of them the name that I'd come across.

"Your uncle"

Her shaking head and frowning told me that maybe she had no idea who he was or how dangerous he could be. If she was involved with Lukavic then would she have told me or was her surprise at the question that I'd asked genuine? I felt as though I wasn't making much progress, all that I'd been told was what I already knew.

To be honest I'd started to feel a bit tired and knew I wasn't focused on my questions and needed to think. I stood up surprising everyone with me, but leaning over the desk toward Ellie, I left her with something to think about before we continued our conversation.

"I want you to think about how I was found in Flores and how someone knew that I was the person who had the passwords to that damn laptop"

Two hours later I was laid on my bed in my thinking position. My stomach had behaved with the lunch that Hector had provided for me, seems that salad agreed with me. I wasn't sure if it was from a recipe or something that Hector had concocted but the smoky chickpeas, sweet charred nectarines, and fresh peppery arugula with Parmesan cheese on top was really tasty and different. I felt as Ranger's hand swept down the side of my thigh, I didn't think that I would react after the way that we'd just made love but damn it, I felt goosebumps running along my skin. Now was not the time to indulge in those feelings because I was feeling frustrated with how the conversation had gone with Ellie.

"I need to think through what was said this morning"

I turned onto my side and looked at Ranger, my hand resting on his cheek as my mind ran through the meeting with Ellie. Her every word ingrained in my memory.

"Maybe you know this Hubbert guy, because maybe he used a false name and identity with Ellie"

I was also pretty sure that he'd been at that damn bunker, well FBI safe house, and could have been the man that lured Morelli into trying to take me away to look for Ellie. Would he have killed Morelli though, just because he lost me?

"Leave that to me. You need to sleep"

As Ranger said that he pulled me over to him so with my head on his chest and one leg over his hips I allowed his stroking motion on my head to lull me into sleep.