Chapter 14

"I've been looking for you," Ranger said.

"No. Your people have been looking for me," Gabriella corrected. "I have been looking for you."

Ranger holstered his gun and crossed his arms over his chest. "My men would have brought you to me. Why have you been running?"

"You have more trust in your men than I do. I hope it is well-placed."

Quiet for a moment, he studied her. "Do you have a reason to believe it's not?"

"We have a lot to talk about." Gabriella's eyes cut to me, and then back to Ranger pointedly. "Alone."

"Stephanie is with me." There was no arguing with his tone. "She stays."

It was Gabriella's turn to silently consider. She appraised me for several long moments, and then finally shrugged. I couldn't help but feel a little offended by the shrug. I'd been deemed not a threat. Sometimes that was helpful, but there were times I wished someone would look at me and think I posed a risk. This was one of those times.

"You know who's looking for you?" Ranger asked her.

"Everyone. Including her." She nodded toward me. A throwaway gesture. I tried to muster up some indignation. Mostly I just wanted to take Gabriella by the shoulders and shake her until answers started to spill out.

"Stephanie is an apprehension agent. You got yourself arrested, and you skipped your court date. Probably a good thing you didn't show up, all things considered, but the arrest part wasn't a smart idea."

"You were supposed to be an apprehension agent," she said. "I was hoping it would be you who came after me."

A-ha! I felt vindicated. Ranger was still arms crossed, feet wide, wearing his intimidation face. Probably I shouldn't elbow him and do the I was right gesture. Keep it together, Stephanie. Look tough.

"Why?" Ranger asked.

Gabriella's cool-as-a-cucumber facade slipped a bit. She ran her fingers through her hair. "I came to find you. There is a lot I need to tell you."

"If you have more information about Valdez, you could have told the Marshals. Could've saved yourself the trip and the trouble."

"I don't trust them."

"And you trust me?" Ranger's tone relayed his doubt.

"Sí."

"Why?"

"Because Nestor doesn't trust you," she said. "And because I have no better choice."

"Explain."

Gabriella sighed. Then she gestured around at the room. "You should make yourselves comfortable. This may take awhile."

There weren't a lot of options in the room. I took a seat in the single armchair near the window. Ranger rested his behind against the entertainment center. "Is this about Los Reyes's missing shipment?"

She shook her head. "I know that Los Reyes believe that I have the missing cocaína, and I have heard that Par de Balos have men looking for me so that they can pin the theft on me."

"I take it you don't have it?"

"No. I don't care about that. Although I do not enjoy the big, ugly man with the scar chasing me with his knife."

Ranger raised a brow. "I don't think I know him."

"I believe he is with Par de Balos. I've seen him twice now. He's been following me."

"A lot of people have been following you."

"Most of them are easily dealt with. Your men are not so easily shaken. Nor this man with the scar. Everyone else has not been a problem."

"I assume you made sure to shake them loose before you came here?"

Jeez, I hoped so. We hadn't had anyone banging down the door yet. Would be really nice if it stayed that way.

"I haven't slept. I finally lost the man with the scar in the early morning, and I kept driving to make sure he stayed lost. Then I came here to find you." She smiled and looked over at me again. "I noticed yesterday that you both seem to spend a lot of time here."

"Occupational hazard," I said. Then I realized how that could sound. "Because of chasing after scumbags. Not because I'm… you know. Not that there's anything wrong with that. My friend used to be in that line of work. I don't judge."

Ranger was looking at the carpet and trying not to smile. Gabriella just nodded. "No judgment," she agreed.

"Let's start at the beginning," Ranger suggested, dragging us back on track. "You ran away from WitSec. Why?"

"To find you. I have information that you need. That I need you to have."

"So let's hear it."

She ran her fingers through her hair again. Nervous tic. "I know that your Bravo team is planning to capture Nestor while he's in Palmira for his primo's wedding."

By the way Ranger's body went still and his eyes sharpened, I could tell this meant something to him. I was in the dark. He had her fixed with his hard stare.

"I know this because Nestor knows it, too," she continued. "Needless to say, he is not planning on becoming captured."

More silence from Ranger. If I were Gabriella, I'd definitely be sweating by now. To her credit, she didn't break his gaze, but she was fidgeting. She ran her palms over her denim-clad thighs.

"It is in both our best interests that you and your Bravo team come up with a new plan."

"You're confident about this," Ranger said. A bystander might say it was a casual observation. Not sure if even Gabriella realized the extent of the tension simmering just below the surface. A certain stillness had settled over him.

"I would be happy for you to tell me that the information is incorrect."

Ranger's lack of answer was answer enough.

"That's what I feared."

"Tell me where and how you heard this."

"You know that Nestor Valdez and I lived together for over two years," she said. Ranger gave a small nod in confirmation. "During that time, he grew lax in maintaining privacy in his business matters."

"We know that you heard a lot," Ranger said. "Saw a lot. That's why we offered you the deal - a new life in exchange for your testimony. And yet, you just threw that life away."

She straightened and raised her chin. "We will come to that. I have a favor to ask of you in exchange for this information I'm bringing."

"Can't wait," he deadpanned. Then he rolled his hand. "Continue. Are you saying that you overheard Valdez talking about the wedding in Palmira, and you assumed that we would see it as an opportune time to move in?"

"No. What I heard was one of your Bravo team telling Nestor that they would be there."

Ranger soaked that in for nearly a full thirty seconds before he spoke. "How do you know it was a team member?"

Gabriella shrugged. "He spoke and acted like he was. I suppose I can't be sure. The question is, are you? Based on this information, who else could it have been?"

I watched Ranger, hoping that he would have an explanation for us. That this wasn't as bad as it was sounding. But instead, he was quiet while the muscle in his jaw ticked.

"Who was it?" he asked finally.

"I never saw his face. Nestor spoke with him via the computer, but they did not use video. I can only confidently say that it was a man, because I heard his voice."

"Tell me everything you heard."

"I didn't have the opportunity to stand around and listen to full conversations," she said. "But I heard enough, over the course of several separate calls, to understand about the Palmira wedding. This man of yours tipped Nestor off, but their deal was that Nestor must still go. Neither of them wanted to arouse suspicion of their… relationship. Of their communication."

"So what's Valdez's plan?"

"He has gotten his primo to agree to use the wedding as a cover for an ambush. The real wedding will be postponed. All of the guests will be Los Reyes, Nestor's best men, and they will be waiting for your Bravo team. They plan to kill half of you, and detain the others. They will trade the remaining Bravo men back to the United States in exchange for political favor."

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. It was all awful. The fact that Ranger had a traitor on his team. The fact that the leader of a powerful drug cartel was conspiring to kill him. And yet, all of that fell into place for me. The political favor piece didn't match up. To my knowledge, the US didn't tend to get that closely involved in mercenary operations, even if some of the other team members were also ex-military. Why would Valdez think that he would get anything of significance in exchange for a couple of mercs?

That wasn't where Ranger wanted to focus, though. "How do you know you can trust me? That I'm not the one who's been in communication with Valdez?"

"They mentioned you once," Gabriella said. "They were deciding which Bravos would be killed, and which would be captured and traded. Nestor was interested in you, specifically, and he asked if you could be bought off. The other man was very definitive - No. Never, he said. He recommended that you be killed."

I swallowed hard. My eyes went to Ranger again. He'd hardly moved since the conversation began. "How did you know it was me? And how did you find me?"

"They referred to you as Bravo One, and as Ranger. I put your face to the name on the night you captured me. Your team members were speaking to you and about you, and I understood that you were him."

"How did you find me here in Trenton?" he asked again.

"That night after you captured me, I heard you and another man speaking right outside my room. He asked you about 'Rangeman'. I knew, all along, that I needed to find a way to get you alone and to speak with you about this. So I remembered everything about that night. It took me several months of research to find you, even with 'Rangeman'. I went to Miami first, but it didn't take me long to realize you were not there. I came to Trenton next. And here you were."

"You could've spoken to me that night. Or the next day, when we were transferring you to the Marshals' custody."

Gabriella shook her head. "We were never alone. I didn't dare mention it in front of anyone else. Do you not understand? You have at least one person on your team who is a traitor."

"Trust me, I understand," Ranger said darkly.

"I do trust you. I have no choice."

"What's in this for you?" I asked. Ranger's eyes flickered to me briefly before landing back on Gabriella.

She straightened again. "That leads me to the favor I have to ask."

"You can ask," Ranger said. "I may or may not be able to deliver."

"I have a sister," Gabriella started. "She is still living in Colombia, just outside Cali. She is my only family, and I worry for her safety. Although Nestor seemed to have not been warned by this Bravo traitor about my capture, I have to assume that he knows now, or will find out, that it was not as it seemed. He will consider me a traitor."

"And you're worried that he'll take it out on your sister."

She nodded. "I wish for her to be brought to the states, and for both of us to be placed back in the protection program. And I wish for the Marshals to help me get her into a rehab program."

Ranger was impassive, giving nothing away. "I'll see what we can do."

There were several moments of silence while we all absorbed everything at our own paces. Finally I broke the silence. "What now?"

Ranger looked at Gabriella. "You'll need to go back underground. Move into a safe house, until we get things figured out."

"I am happy to. Staying invisible in this city has not been easy."

He nodded. "We can help with that."

"Who is 'we'?" she asked uneasily.

Ranger had his phone in his hand and was typing out a text as he spoke. "Only a few of my most trusted men will know anything. I find it extremely unlikely, given everything I've heard, that anyone within Rangeman is a mole. They just don't know enough about Bravo team and my work on Valdez. But I'm not completely discounting the fact that there may be multiple people working together. Until we've put this to bed, we're keeping you under wraps. A couple of my men will bring you to a safe house and stay with you. In the meantime, I'm going to keep the search for you going. The rest of my men won't know that anything has changed. It will also help us keep Los Reyes and Par de Balos occupied and throw them off your scent."

Gabriella agreed. While we waited for Ranger's men to arrive, he explained that she'd be staying at a safe house on Lake Hopatcong. He committed to trying to arrange for her request of having her sister brought to the US. Gabriella gave him her sister's information and he wrote it on a notepad he found in the nightstand, and stuck the sheet of paper in his pocket.

Within ten minutes, Ranger's phone buzzed and he checked it before opening the door to Lester and Bobby. Both wore serious faces, but Bobby nodded at me and Les spared me a wink and a smile. Ranger explained the plan. Bobby took Gabriella's duffel bag while Lester placed one hand between her shoulder blades as they walked her out to the waiting SUV. They each kept their gun arm free.

"Whoa," I said succinctly once they were gone.

"Shit."

Yep. That about summed it up, too.

"Is there any way she could be mistaken?" I asked. "That the man she heard talking to Valdez is not who she thinks he is?"

I was sitting on the bed, and Ranger took a seat in the armchair I'd vacated. "I've been trying to think of a loophole, something to make it not true. I haven't had any luck with that yet."

"I'm sorry."

"Me, too."

I couldn't imagine what that felt like, to know that there was someone who was supposed to be on your team but had betrayed you. He'd not only sold Ranger and the others out to the bad guy, but he'd recommended that Ranger be killed. If I ever met this person, I'd kick him so hard that he'd choke on his own balls.

"What are we going to do?"

He sighed. "I need to get back to my computer. I don't have access to the right networks via my phone, and I need to start fishing around. Obviously, we'll need to replan the Palmira mission."

"But you'll need to do it vary carefully, so the wrong person - or people - don't get tipped off that you know anything you're not supposed to."

"And so that whoever the traitor is doesn't just turn around and give the new plan to Valdez."

"So first order of business, find out who the traitor is. Any ideas?"

"Unfortunately, no. But I have ideas about who it isn't. We'll have to start there."

###

Six hours later, the sun was setting and I was feeling useless. I'd read a couple more military training manuals, but my mind was elsewhere, so I hoped no one tested my knowledge on stronghold raids. Ranger was still in his office.

My stomach was telling me it was dinner time, and the clock confirmed. Ranger's freezer was woefully devoid of pizza or microwave meals. Everything in there required actual cooking. I settled for a peanut butter sandwich, even though it had to be on whole wheat with all-natural peanut butter. Definitely not the same as the worthless white bread and sugar-laden Skippy I was accustomed to.

I made one for Ranger, too, figuring I'd leave it for him to eat when he was finished. But he emerged from the hallway just as I was plating the second sandwich. He looked weary as he sat at one of the bar stools. I slid him the plate and took the seat next to him.

"Any news?" I asked.

"Bobby and Lester reported in. They made it to the safe house with Gabriella. All's quiet."

"That's good."

"I reached out to the commander of Bravo team. I also reached out to a couple other people in the community whom I feel confident in."

"And?"

"I've only heard back from one so far. She's one of the lead intelligence analysts that my team works with. She's been working on Valdez alongside us for years."

"And you can feel pretty confident that she's not the traitor, because she's a woman."

He nodded. "She's going to reach out to a couple of people she trusts in her own networks, and help figure out a plan. I'll connect with our commander to work it from our side."

"What about the Marshals? Was Gabriella right not to trust them? Could they be involved?"

"Unlikely, but I understand her hesitation. At this point, I don't have a good enough reason to loop them in, even though I think the risk is low. Gabriella is safe at the lake for now. The Marshals won't be able to do much to help us with the Valdez side of things."

"Gabriella said that the wedding is in three weeks?" I asked nervously.

"Yes. We have a tight timeline to figure out how we're going to handle things. The ideal scenario is that we can come up with an alternate plan to capture him before the wedding."

"I assume that if that were easy to do, you would have done it already."

"You assume right," he admitted. "It's taken nearly a year to plan this capture."

"We'll figure something out." I put a lot more confidence in my voice than I was feeling at that moment.

Ranger gave a nod, and then reached over to take my empty plate and brought both to the sink. I moved from the kitchen back to the couch and plopped down. He joined me and left a respectable bunch of inches separating us.

"I'll need to stay here tomorrow to keep working on this," he said.

"I need to be back in Trenton in the afternoon to bring in Kate Fitz, and then nab Lenny Bennett at Dougie's flash sale."

"I know. Tank is going to pick you up here and stick with you. Any other plans tomorrow besides the two skips?"

"I might check in with Connie. See what else has come in over the past few days."

He raised his brow. "What about your life plan? I thought you wanted a new direction."

"I haven't exactly had much time to buff up my resume." Yep, that was the reason I hadn't found a new job yet. Keep telling yourself that, Stephanie.

"I suppose that's true."

He left it at that. I looked over at him, his head reclined back against the couch. "You look tired."

His mouth flattened in a tight smile. "Didn't sleep well last night."

"Me neither."

He was quiet for a long moment, and I thought we were going to settle into silence and then maybe go our separate ways. But then he spoke quietly. "I sleep better with you."

I gave a sigh and closed my eyes, my head resting back against the cushions. It was easier when I didn't have to look at him. "I feel like we need to talk. But I don't think this is the right time."

"Okay. Your call."

I opened my eyes and turned to him again. The blank face was especially troubling when it was creased with weariness. "It's been a long day. I doubt either of us has had enough time to think things through."

"Shit." He dragged his hand over his face. "If you honestly believe that I haven't been thinking about it for every minute of the past 20 hours, then I'm an even bigger asshole than I thought."

"You're only rarely an asshole," I assured him. Mostly joking.

"Stephanie, you walked away from me."

I swallowed. "I'm sorry. I didn't plan it, I just -"

He held up a hand. "I'm not looking for an apology. What I'm saying is, yes, I've been thinking about everything you said. There's no way I could think about anything else."

"Could've fooled me." I was a little bewildered. Was he truly that good at compartmentalizing? Within the span of the past eight hours, he'd been Bravo One, CEO Ranger, and Mercenary Ranger. "So where did you land? After the thinking."

"I still need some time."

"Okay." I swallowed my disappointment. "We can talk again in a few days. Is that enough time?"

"That's not what I mean. I mean that I need time to get rid of the qualifiers."

I took a moment. "The qualifiers…"

"You said that you wanted someone who can love you without qualifiers. That's fair. I want that, too. For both of us. You don't deserve anything less. But you need to give me more time."

My heart was beating faster, and my palms were getting sweaty. It felt weird to be talking about this so rationally. I felt like, with any given word from him, the world as I knew it was going to come crumbling down around me.

"We've been doing this dance for years," I said carefully. "If that hasn't been enough, then I don't think time is the answer. How much more time could you possibly need?"

"Four months and twelve days."

I blinked. "That's oddly specific."

"December first."

"That's the day? That's the day you'll be ready to tell me whether our pictures line up?" I didn't know whether to laugh or roll my eyes or punch him. "Let me just pencil that into my calendar."

"Consider it a date."

I settled on laughing. "You're not serious."

He looked at me steadily. His face implied that he was.

I threw in an eye roll for good measure. "Okay. You win. Tell me, why December first? Is that the day you're picking up your crystal ball from the repair shop?"

"I don't need a crystal ball to tell me whether our pictures of 'Someday' will line up." He reached over to snag my hand, and I let him. "But December first is the day that I get to allow myself to think about 'Someday'."

I could feel my heartbeat in my mouth, but I spoke around it. "Why?"

He was quiet for a moment, playing with our intertwined fingers. Then he let out a breath, and I realized I'd been holding mine. "That's the day my contract is up."

"Contract?"

"Need-to-know."

"And you think I don't need to know?"

"I like the people in my life to have plausible deniability. The less you know about what I do, the better."

"Thus the qualifiers." I should've known. He truly was the master of compartmentalization.

"Until then, I can't offer more. I'm sorry. But I do love you, as much as I'm capable of right now."

"And I love you."

The corners of his mouth lifted. "You do?"

"As much as you'll let me," I told him. "Maybe a little bit more. That's the scary part."

His eyes were solemn. His voice quiet. "Please don't give up on me now."

"I'm not." I shook my head for emphasis. "That was never my intention."

"I thought maybe it was."

"I'm not asking for forever, either. But it would be nice to know if there's an opportunity for maybe." I bit my tongue for a second, debating whether to add the last part. Then I decided, go for broke. "And it would also be nice to know whether we're the only maybe in each other's lives."

I held my breath, waiting for his answer. Luckily I didn't have to wait long. In a rare display of surprise, Ranger's brow rose.

"You've been the only one in my life for a long time."

It was my turn to be surprised, but the embarrassment probably masked it. "I'm sorry. I know that's totally hypocritical of me. Now I'm the one who's an asshole."

"Only very rarely."

"So what now?"

"We both know how we feel, right?"

I nodded slowly. Took me long enough, but yes, I could more confidently say that I knew how I felt. Couldn't say that it was entirely comforting, given the circumstances, but still - progress.

"We keep being honest with each other," Ranger suggested. "And we revisit this conversation on December first."

"That's it?"

"That's my proposal. For now." He watched me intently. "What do you say?"

To be honest, it sounded pretty good to me. I'd never intended to turn anything upside down or put our relationship at risk. With everything else we had on our plates, I was a-okay with keeping things status quo between us. We both knew we loved each other. Neither of us knew quite what that meant long-term, or how long it would last, but did anyone ever really know that?

"Okay."

He pulled on my hand to tug me forward and looped his other arm around my waist, lifting me up and depositing me on his lap. Once I was comfortably straddling him, he brought both hands up and twined his fingers behind my neck. "Does that mean you'll be in my bed again tonight?"

Although his mouth wasn't smiling, his eyes were. I smiled back. "Guess that depends. What do you plan to do with me once we get there?"

"Does your decision depend on my answer?"

My decision was already made. There were a few different things on my to-do list, and sleep was at the bottom. Rather than tell him my answer, I decided to show it. After all, they do say that actions speak louder than words.

###

A/N: Hi, it's me. I still haven't read enough in this fandom to know how explicit we like to get here. LOL. This chapter was heavy, so it didn't fit here, but if there's interest, I'll post a "Chapter 14.5". Do you guys want some mild smut, or should we fade to black and carry on with more plot?