02/17/2019

Cheers if you correctly guessed our villain! It was about time I actually said the name right? The only one IMO who could ever come close to going up against Ranger is Scrog. I'm ending this chapter with a (surprise) cliffie. Stay tuned to see if they find Ranger in time, it's going to be good. Happy reading!

I was speechless. We were all speechless. How could we have not seen this? There were clues everywhere, the least of which was that Scrog had been the only person to ever come close to challenging Ranger. But we all thought he was rotting away in a hospital somewhere, never to be seen or heard from again. Looking at his picture made my stomach cramp. Scrog had almost killed Ranger once before. The man had brains and skills and was capable of most anything. We were dealing with an entirely different ball game if Scrog was involved in Ranger's disappearance.

"Are you sure this is Teddy?" I asked Sylvio, my voice trembling as I spoke. "Yes," he said. "I double checked. Scrog must have been able to code his name in the records search programs, similar to what I do for Ranger all the time. We have several people that we track through automatic scans and we get reports when we get a hit. Gorcs would have never come up because we didn't know about it." Julie was shaking with anger, her fists balled up against her sides. "This wouldn't be happening if I had killed him when I shot him," she said. "Hey it's not your fault," I said to her, pulling her into a hug. "This is a big break for us because now we know who's involved." Trying to distract her, I noticed a shiny bracelet on her wrist. "That's a pretty bracelet," I said to her. "Thanks," Julie said. "Dad sent it to me." "Well he has great taste," I said. "Hey why don't you go into the kitchen and see if there's anything good for lunch." "Ok," Julie said, and she stood and left the room.

I turned back to Tank and Sylvio. "I'm still lost on how Scrog is connected to this whole thing, and more importantly, how we are going to find Ranger." "All we know is that Scrog took Ranger and he was last seen heading West in Virginia." "He would probably take him somewhere remote," Tank said, "somewhere that no one would think to look." "That's what we would do and we need to think like Scrog because unfortunately he operates like we do."

"So now that I know who I'm looking for," Sylvio said, "I'm getting some hits. It seems Scrog and Jane rented an apartment together in Arlington so they definitely have a connection." "Does the family own property anywhere in Virginia?" I asked him. "They own a lot of property all of the globe, but I'm not seeing anything in Virginia," Sylvio said.

"What does the family do again?" I asked. "The father is some big oil and gas tycoon, but the family has been in the fuel business for generations. They were part of some of the first oil and coal production companies," Sylvio said. I looked at my watch. 12 hours since we received our clue. 12 hour to find Ranger.

"Ok let's back up here," I said. "I'm having trouble piecing all of this together. So Scrog and Jane meet at Four Winds and I'm assuming Scrog charms Jane into starting a life together once they are on the outside. Now it was never intended for Scrog to be set free. He pled insanity to all of his charges and was sent to the treatment hospital. Now if Jane's family is as connected as any super wealthy family is, I'm betting they helped Scrog get out." "Yes, and then this whole time Scrog is thinking about getting his revenge against Ranger," Tank said. "Yes," I said. "I think he's been working on his master plan for quite possibly years. We know he's crazy and we know he thinks he should be Ranger so he would not take a chance at messing up again."

"I'm not sure where this game comes in though," Sylvio said. "Why not just kill him? And why bring you into this?" "I think Scrog is trying to prove something," I said. "He said "may the best man win" when I first spoke with him. I think he's trying to win the job of Ranger instead of just trying to take it like last time."

"So let's say all of this is true and the ultimate goal is for us to fail at finding Ranger and then Scrog gets to kill him," Sylvio said. "This last clue about the lock and key – I think Ranger is locked up somewhere and this key will set him free. Which means we need to find him fast." We all agreed. Time was running out.

"If we are to assume Scrog stayed in the area where he was last seen, then we need to focus on that, I said." "What's out in that area?" I asked. "Trees and forests and the Appalachian Mountains," Tank said. "Lots of back woods and places for someone to hide." This was getting frustrating. Scrog didn't do anything randomly – everything served a purpose and had meaning. Scrog was out to prove he was the best, but even the best have patterns.

"Scrog doesn't have anything of his own so I think wherever he is or whatever he's using to stash Ranger has been something that's connected to Jane's family," I said. "Sylvio, are there any cabins or lake houses or anything like that in the area?" "I haven't come across anything in the property search records, but I'll keep checking, Sylvio said." I turned back to Tank. "What else do you know about the area, is there anything else to note?" Tank thought for a minute and said, "I can't think of anything other than there was and still is a lot of mining done in those parts." I suddenly had a flashback to the dream I had – I remember it being very dark and I was surrounded by rock and gravel. I was two parts freaked out and excited because I knew in my gut this was our break.

Tank and I looked at each other. "Sylvio!" we both shouted at the same time. "Check to see if the family owns or owned any land used for mining," I said. Sylvio tapped away at his computer and within a few minutes he said, "Bingo. The family never owned land in that area, but they were responsible for a large coal mining operation in Tazewell County. The mine closed down in the 50's, but the remnants are still there." "It would be an ideal spot to hold a prisoner," I said. "Out of the way and impossible to find." Tank jumped up and said "I'll get the flight plans ordered and get us back to Virginia ASAP." Sylvio said, "I'll download maps of the area and see if I can get any schematics on the mining tunnels. It's a big place so we'll need some direction if possible."

This was it, I felt certain of it. We were coming to get Ranger. Hold on Ranger, I thought, just hold on.