Chapter 24

The cover story for Lester turned out to be a perfect one. The employees at both gyms liked him immediately, and one look at him confirmed he was a fitness enthusiast. He'd blended in so smoothly that Stephanie had to occasionally remind herself it was just a cover story. He was spending every day with her, and she was glad he was there. Ranger was gone and without Lester's presence she might have convinced herself that it had all been a dream. One week, with no word from him whatsoever. No words from Tank, and only a couple of texts from Cally assuring her everything was fine with her.

"Hey Beautiful, I have a suggestion for your martial arts class schedule," Lester said as he walked into her office.

She got up from behind her desk and closed the door. "Lester! You can't call me beautiful. I'm the boss! All I'd need is Paul hearing you and then, well, he already thinks there is something going on between us."

"Between you and me?" Lester seemed truly surprised.

"Is that so unthinkable?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah, I mean no," he amended when he saw her frown. "Yeah, it's unthinkable because…you know, but no because you are beautiful!"

"Think about it, Lester. You are supposed to be here to invest in the gym. I'm the person you are trying to impress, not someone you know well enough to call beautiful."

"Yeah, but old habits are hard to break."

"I'm not an old habit," she said. "You thought I was dead, remember?"

His countenance sobered. "Yeah, I remember. I also remember that it's my job to make sure you don't end up that way now."

"We both know that's not likely. I'm not in any danger here."

"We don't know that," Lester said. "Tank and Althea might be stirring up some trouble with their inquiries. Tank's found some weird stuff about Gregg. He has a wife in Vietnam."

Stephanie's mouth dropped open. "You've been talking to Tank? Why didn't you tell me? And Brian Gregg is in Vietnam?"

"I just did tell you I've been talking to Tank. He called me a little bit ago, and that's what I was really wanting to talk to you about. Although, I think there is room for improvement with the martial arts…"

"Lester!" She stomped her foot in exasperation. "Why didn't Tank call me? Why didn't Ranger call me?"

"Tank called me because I have a secure phone, and you don't. Ranger didn't call you because he's presently off the grid, and no one is talking to him."

"What!"

"Well, I'm not talking to him. Tank will probably talk to him, but he hadn't yet because he called me to see how things were going here and he asked if I'd talked to him."

"What if he's in trouble? What if he's disappeared?" Stephanie asked. She heard the mild hysteria in her voice. She couldn't lose him again.

Lester grasped her shoulders and squeezed. "He's fine, Stephanie. It takes time to wrap up a life and move it to another state, even if you have lived as austerely as Ranger has. I didn't expect to hear from him. And Tank's been busy working with both Silvio and Althea. He said he'd made a quick trip to D.C. and then back to Puerto Rico this week. He's on his way back so I think we'll hear something soon. Or maybe we'll see the big guy. Keep the faith!"

"Hunh!" Stephanie muttered.

"Now, I really do want to talk to you about your gym. You got time?" His interest in her place pleased her and she was once again glad he was there. She moved toward him and wrapped her arms around his middle giving him a quick tight hug.

Paul tapped on her office door and opened it but stopped short at the sight of his boss embracing the potential investor. "Uh, sorry, for the…uh, interruption," he said backing through the door and closing it behind him.

Lester smiled and winked at his old friend. "Guess it won't hurt to call you beautiful now."

Ranger stepped from the office and stood for a moment on the busy Manhattan street. He'd used the same discreet financial management company for years and he saw no reason to change things now, just because he was changing his residence. As long as he had family in Newark, he'd be making the trip from Georgia to Jersey on a regular basis. His parents were in their final years and he had both an obligation and a need to see them. There had been so many years when he had ignored them with the excuse that he was growing his business or doing important work for the government.

Maybe in time, Stephanie would accompany him to visit his family. Once the threat to her safety was eliminated maybe she would feel comfortable in Newark, if not in Trenton. But if she didn't, he'd come alone. And after a short stay he'd eagerly return to her. He was eager now to get back. He'd worked his way through his list of "to-dos" quickly and efficiently. The financial arrangements had been the last, excepting the visit to his parents.

He had considered what he would tell his parents, and finally had decided on the truth. They could be trusted with keeping the story to themselves and the truth was the surest way of explaining why he was moving to Georgia. His mother had always known, without being told, that Stephanie was special to him. When he lost her, his mother had been the only one in his family to understand the depth of his unspoken grief and perhaps she would be the one to best understand his present joy.

Joy. It was such a strange emotion to him, but it was welcome. Gone was the perpetual dark fog in which he had at first only existed but through which he had later learned to navigate. Grief, he supposed. He'd never gone to a grief counselor. He hadn't wanted anyone to try and make it better. Guilt at his inability to protect her had fueled a dark need to endure the pain.

Just as his mother had been the only one to understand the depth of his grief, Tank had been the only one to understand Ranger didn't want to get better. He didn't want to get over her, and Tank knew better than to try and help him. He'd simply taken over many of the responsibilities of RangeMan, so Ranger could leave the country on impossible missions that he'd somehow always returned from. And now the twist of fate that had kept him alive had miraculously dropped Stephanie back into his life. Joy. That was the emotion and he was having no trouble getting used to it.

A soft wind ruffled the lapels of his suit, and tickled the hair pulled back low on his nape. Always aware of his surroundings, he knew that he generated a certain amount of female interest. It was prevalent today. In the city and dressed for business, his attire quietly whispered money and sophistication. His demeanor emanated power and something else less definable, and maybe a little scary to some. It was a fact of his life and he'd used his appearance to his advantage many times. Just one more weapon in his arsenal. It was time to lose the advantage and become someone who would simply blend in. He smiled as he wondered if Stephanie would be surprised.

His phone vibrated. A text from Tank.

Where are you? Still in Trenton? Call me if you can.

Tank answered his call with a question, "Have you started back to Georgia?"

"No. I'm in the city, but on my way to my parents."

"Great," Tank said. "I'm flying into Newark. Can you pick me up at the airport? There's stuff to be said that needs to be said in person."

"Yeah, I'll be there. What time and terminal?"

Tank gave him the particulars and then hesitated a moment before he continued. "One thing I need to tell you now, "he said, "is that you need to be careful. I don't think you need to be worried about the Georgia connection. I think you are the main target. It's known that the last attempt was unsuccessful and there might be another attempt in the planning."

They disconnected, and Ranger felt a slight optimism strengthen his good mood. Stephanie wasn't a target at this point. He was, but he wouldn't let them have another chance.

Later that evening as he drove Tank back to Trenton from the airport, he got the entire story.

"It's a complicated mess," Tank told Ranger. "Gregg kept a daily planner on his computer going back to the time you were doing ops under his supervision. Silvio couldn't believe everything he was reading, and there is so much it might take years to get through it. Thing is, Gregg just left it all behind. It looks as though he was going to walk off into the sunset and retire in Vietnam. His connection with Gilman seems to be business now, even if it wasn't at one time. Silvio thinks he's double dealing her, but that's a whole different chapter."

"How did Terry Gilman and Brian Gregg get connected in the first place?" Ranger asked.

"You," Tank said. "Back in the day he was legit. He was your handler and because what you were doing was so critical to national security, he did frequent background checks on you himself. He spent time in Trenton."

"I had no idea," Ranger said.

"No. He was good and you were busy establishing RangeMan. To be honest, I'm not sure how much of this is fact and how much is supposition by Silvio, but it seems when Gregg was checking you out, he decided to check out Stephanie, who led him to Morelli. Then he sees that a woman you're involved with is involved with a cop who is involved with the mob."

"Morelli? With the mob. I always thought he was clean."

"He was," Tank said. "But he was banging Gilman, and she wasn't. Then Gregg met up with Gilman supposedly to check her out and it was like a fatal attraction kind of deal. He fell for her completely."

"That seems unlikely," Ranger said.

"Yeah, but Silvio found an electronic diary. Stuff Gregg had uploaded recently from floppy discs. It seems he was organizing all his data. Gregg and Gilman got to know one another real well and they formed an unholy alliance. Some of those missions Gregg sent guys on were to take out targets that were beneficial to the Grizolli cause. Maybe guys south of the border that were getting in the way of the Grizolli business on the east coast."

"Then it wasn't a fatal attraction. It was a monetary attraction," Ranger said.

"It was both. And this is where all this starts to make sense. Joe Morelli figured out that the woman he was cheating on his wife with was cheating on him. And he started nosing around."

"Did he find the connection?" Ranger asked.

"Don't know," Tank said. "Probably not. Gregg's cover would have been deep. But they knew he was looking, and Gregg freaked out. Terry told him what to do. She provided a vehicle to take Morelli out and Terry insisted that he get rid of Stephanie and the baby so there would be no loose ends left."

"But he screwed up," Ranger said.

"That's the general consensus. By general I mean that's what me and Silvio think. And then there was no way he could finish off Stephanie and Cally…so he used his government rank to step in, take charge and get them out."

"But there's no way he could have pulled it off without someone knowing," Ranger said.

"That's true," Tank agreed. "But we don't know who would have helped him, or what happened to the people that knew. They could have had their own 'accidents' at a later date."

"It seems too simplistic," Ranger said. "You can't just go around running people over every time they get in your way, even in Trenton."

"Did you know the Grizolli family owns Stiva's?"

"I did not."

"It's not a secret," Tank said. "They bought it years ago and kept the Stiva brand. They also added their own crematorium."

They were silent after that, both men thinking about the information Tank had just shared.

As Ranger pulled into Tank's driveway Tank said, "My truck is in D.C. I plan on going to retrieve it tomorrow and to give Althea some information that will hopefully help her discover Gregg's whereabouts. And that's something I still need to tell you. Come on in, there's much more to know."

"I will," Ranger replied. "Will this derail my plan to leave for Georgia in the morning?"

"It might," Tank said. "I talked to Lester. He seems to be enjoying his stay with Stephanie, so maybe there's no hurry for you to get back down there."

Ranger growled. "What are you implying…enjoying what exactly?"

Tank took a moment to look in astonishment at Ranger. "I meant he was enjoying the work. Have you not talked to him or Stephanie?"

"No," Ranger admitted. "I've been occupied with getting everything lined out so I could leave this place permanently."

"Come inside, and we'll go through the rest of what I've got, then you can decide whether you're leaving or staying a little longer. And when you do decide, call her! She's probably down there freaking out wondering if you've changed your mind or if something happened to you."

"I don't need instruction on how to handle my personal life," Ranger said tersely.

"Dude, you do!" Tank opened his door and marched up his driveway giving Ranger a moment to rethink their conversation before he followed the man who had been his confidant and advisor most of his adult life.