Chapter 13

I watched as my Babe left the garage followed by the team of men on guard duty, she had been so nervous that I was feeling it as well. Tank and I went to my office where Hector had set up a bank of monitors so we could observe and listen to events as they unfolded. I watched silently as Stephs tracker moved along the roads toward the bank. We'd organized for one of our cars to be parked in front of the bank and for it to pull out to enable Santos easy parking. So far everything seemed to be as expected from the external feeds from cameras. As Steph moved into the bank we both let out a breath we didn't know we were holding.

"She'll be fine"

I didn't answer.

The tracker slowed to a stand still and we heard Steph ask to access the safety deposit boxes, then she was on the move again.

Then all hell broke lose. The first thing to happen was my secure phone going off, it was Cal.

"Calls gone out, all bikers are moving saying this is it, don't know where, so I'm following along"

"Be careful Cal and keep in touch, I'll link your wire here to my office"

As Tank was doing that, there was a rumble through the floor, a loud roar and the high pitched sound of alarms starting to go off, the electrical supply failed putting the place into darkness, even the computer screens went dead. As we reached the door my phone emitted the alert from the panic button Santos had on him. The emergency generator kicked in but my first instinct was to get to the control room. Hal was there.

"All operations diverted through to Miami, surveillance teams following emergency protocols, all personnel being evacuated, emergency services on route, all systems rerouted to safe building and hard drive content being transferred, ready to lock all systems sir. I'm sorry but we seem to have lost any connection to Steph. Here's your mic and bud for comms boss"

"Thanks Hal, finish and then head down, do we know where the explosion came from?"

"Ground floor boss, but no further information"

Steph, I needed to know that she was all right but with this cluster fuck going on I was struggling. We moved down the staircase and through the emergency exit to the front of the building, smoke was coming from the ground floor entrance, I grabbed hold of Tank and was almost pleading.

"Tank, Steph?"

"We lost everything from Steph and Santos when the explosion went off. I know Cal is at the bank because that's where those bikers ended up to hold a demonstration of all things, he says the place is swarming with FBI and police, and can't get near"

At that moment I felt like someone had punched me in the back, I dropped to one knee holding my chest.

"Carlos are you in pain do I need to get the EMTs, what's wrong?"

I stood up, what the hell just happened to me? Did I have a panic attack? My breathing was fine and my heart rate normal, not a heart attack.

"I don't know, I'm fine now, let's get us some answers Tank"

It took the fire department an hour to say that there was no fire to contain and then another hour for an inspector to say there was no structural damage, eventually we were allowed into the building. The entrance and lobby were a mess with walls blown and glass smashed, rooms along the corridor looked even worse and as we walked further in it was obvious which room was the site of the blast, but gave no indication of the cause. By now Lester was reported to be at the hospital having been beaten up by the demonstrators outside of the bank, so I sent Bobby to support him. The whole street the bank was on had been cordoned off with no one allowed access, Cal reported a lot of black cars, FBI and police going in and out, but no sighting of Steph. Everyone from inside the bank had been sent out onto the streets, so even our men who were inside had no access to what was going on. Two of our patrol cars had diverted to the street but even they couldn't get near. Hector couldn't get Stephs tracker back on line, and there was nothing from the wire or the panic button. I tried to contact Morelli, but no answer so with nothing to lose I called Eddie.

"Eddie speaking"

"I can't find Steph"

"Diner down from bonds office ten minutes"

"Tank can you get the men back in and find out what the hell happened, keep it in house I don't want the police or FBI inside or knowing the cause, if necessary lie and say a gas appliance exploded, talk to Juan and leave the emergency protocol in place for now, keep the core team here and set up surveillance routines, ask Luis to bring in a team to clear the garage so we can get cars out, I have to meet with Eddie"

"Eddie, as in Stephs police friend?"

"Yes, I need to find out what's going on"

I hailed a taxi seeing as how the explosion had dropped debris into the garage, blocking cars from leaving, and I was impatient to get to the diner. Eddie was sat nursing a coffee as I slid into a seat opposite to him.
"Eddie?"

"Christ Ranger it's a mess"

"Explain"

"Apparently there was a sting timed to go down at that Rosenbaum Bank this morning, a joint task force, Trenton PD with FBI, Morelli was part of the team. They've been keeping an eye on this group of bikers that moved in. Called them a radical group, an extreme right wing group. Apparently they had a snitch that gave them information that a woman who was one of the leaders was going to set a bomb off at the bank, so the teams were in place. When the demonstration hit people were coming into the bank to get off the streets. Ranger they arrested Steph, said they had evidence that she was the bomber and that she'd taken out another target. She was hurt in the take down, but I'm not sure how bad, but she was unconscious, no EMTs called. The FBI took her and I don't know where she is. She wouldn't do anything like that they must be nuts to think that"

"Eddie, calm down, where's Morelli?"

"Not sure, but he didn't go with them when they arrested her, in fact he's been acting real strange, won't talk to anyone. Ranger they charged her with treason and instigation of a demonstration by a radical group, what the hell are we going to do?"

"Eddie I trust you, because I know you'll help Steph, here's a secure phone use it and talk with Tank and tell him anything you think might be important. Now we have to work on this without anyone knowing, I don't know who to trust on the PD other than you and I'm not sure about the agents that were there"

"OK I can do that, what do you need?"

"Names of the agents involved, the snitch, PD who were involved in the operation, what they think they know. But Eddie I have to find Steph"

"OK I'll see what I can do, I'll also call at Stephs parents and see if Morelli told them anything, I gotta go or someone's gonna notice I'm missing, just get her out Ranger"

With that Edie left leaving me looking at a cold coffee. If the FBI had charged her with treason there were only a few places they would take female prisoners, god please let her be all right. By the time I arrived back at Rangeman Tank was fielding the police at the front door, I wandered over to listen to the conversation.

"We hear a bomb went off here earlier"

"Nah, just a gas explosion"

"Well we have information that an activist got a bomb into the building"

"Not happened, so maybe your informant got it wrong, who was your snitch anyway?"

"Ongoing investigation, you gonna let us in?"

"No, you got the wrong information"

Tank turned effectively bringing the conversation to a close. I stepped through the door pleased to see two men guarding it; I nodded to them and followed Tank up the stairs to five and into his office. The core team was already there plus Ram and Hector, Santos had an arm in a sling and several bruises over his face, and I looked at him as though encouraging him to talk.

"The other guys are in worse shape, but a metal bar took me down, just a dislocated shoulder, it was absolute chaos, I mean people just started punching for the sake of it"

"Santos you know what I need to know"

'Dios primo, I said I would I protect her and I didn't, they wouldn't let me go into the vault where the boxes were, she was on her own with this manger and then the shit hit the fan"

"Tank the damage here?"

"Luckily superficial, lot of walls down but nothing structural, a few cars with dents. Protocols shut down the garage door that's why we couldn't get out. Luis said a few days to put right using a work crew, so he's on to that"

"Ram what was the cause?"

"Bomb in the collection room. Apparently a parcel came in addressed to you and it went into that room ready for scanning"

"Do we know who?"

"Well it was one of the new guys who took it in and he said that the woman looked like it was Steph"

"Which man?"

"Hickman"

"Alright we know it wasn't Steph, but the police and FBI think they have evidence that says otherwise. Ram can you see if we have any footage of the delivery and a time stamp, I doubt it occurred to anyone that she's been inside here since yesterday. Also get the team analyzing for any evidence of the bombs makeup"

"Hector can you go onto the streets and find out what the word on the street is, see if you can ferret out the snitch who gave the information to the police, but I doubt you'll find them"

"Cal find out what you can about today from the bikers, see if they know who gave them the order, maybe filch a phone for Hector to look at"

"Primo where's Steph?"

I sighed, sat back and ran my hands over my face.

"The FBI has arrested her for treason based on the possibility of a bomb at the bank, possibly here and the instigation of a demonstration by a radical group, I think they also charged her as well"

"Shit Ranger"

"Yeah, I spoke with Eddie, he's devastated, said he'd help if he can. He has my secure phone so I told him to use it to talk with you Tank. There was a sting operation waiting for her and that bastard Morelli was part of the joint task force, I'm gonna see what contacts I can get in touch with, keep me up to date"

I left the room to head into my own office, I felt physically sick, I'd let her down by not protecting her, but by god I'd get her back and then my beast would come out to play to get my revenge.

I spent the next few hours on the phone talking to people I knew through my work with the Government, most I would probably call friends as we had a lot of history together on missions, either as soldiers who had been with me or those in the background who supported the team with intel or support. Most had made the decision to move across to a desk when they felt they were too old or injured for active duty, not a direction I wanted to take. Rangeman had worked with the FBI on both local and international contracts, when the job they needed doing was an operation that needed more resources than they had, or in some cases in a place where they didn't want their name to be associated. The agent in Quantico I needed to speak to the most was a special agent in charge for violent crime, Don Matthews, but I could only leave a message for him to get back to me. Another contact was Pete Williams Senior analyst for Intelligence Collection.

"Pete here, this had better be fucking good Manoso, you know what time it is?"

"Yeah sorry Pete, I really need some help and you know I wouldn't call unless I'm out of options"

"Must be serious then, go on"

"A very good friend of mine is in trouble and I know she's been set up"
"This the chick you were always telling us about?"

"Yes, the problem is the FBI have arrested and charged her with treason and I don't where she is"

"Shit Ranger, they're usually not wrong with stuff like that"

"Well part of their so called evidence is a bomb going off here, which did happen, but I know for sure she had nothing to do with it"

"She got an alibi?"

"Yeah, she was in bed with me at the time"

"You got your shit together with her then?"

"Yes, but not a lot of people know how close we've become. Pete you wouldn't believe the stuff that's happened to her, or me"

"OK I'll help if I can, not sure how though, what's the best way?"

"I'll send you a copy of all we have because there's something bigger going on here"
"Use your secure access and send it to me, I'll get back to you if I have any questions, meanwhile let me know if you find out anything else. Ranger, have you thought of getting in touch with Kade?"

"Not really, didn't think he'd be able to help"

"Give him a call, maybe in the morning, you know he'd help if he could"

"Will do, and thanks"

"No problem, speak soon"

At last an ally and maybe Kade could have some ideas, he and I went way back but I'd lost touch with him. I looked at my watch, twelve hours missing, if they'd put her into a high security prison she'd go nuts being locked up on her own. I only hope she knows I'm looking for her and I will get her out, not sure how, it wasn't as if we could storm one of those places. I walked into the large conference room down the hall; the room had been set up like a war room, with all the information we had and were still collecting. Hector was busy on a computer but looked up when I entered.

"We find her, nothing on the street and those bikers gone, Cal did get me a phone so on it"

"Can you let me have an encrypted file with everything we have, I'm sending it through my secure government access"

"Sure, you look like shit, get some rest, you no good to no one tired"

How could I sleep with Steph missing? But I knew Bobby would notice soon and make me sleep if I didn't. I spent the rest of the night in the war room going through the information we had, so many questions and no obvious way of getting the answers.

Chapter 14

At 0600 I went into the gym, I needed to center myself, but no matter how fast I ran or how hard I hit the bags I couldn't find my zone. A quick shower and shave had me looking better, but when I looked in the mirror the reflection showed my despair.

I was meeting with the team for up dates when a call came up from the lobby

"A Detective Morelli is here, insisting he speaks to you Ranger"

"Put him in conference one, and make sure all surveillance is running"

I was seething as I pushed my chair back to get up, Santos stood up with me.

"I'm with you primo"

I nodded, he would have my back against Morelli, even it meant trying to control me from beating the shit out of him, because that's exactly how I felt, how could that bastard have been part of that sting and been there allowing the FBI to arrest Steph and take her? I walked into the conference and sat at the head of the table, Santos stood at the door with Morelli pacing down one side. He obviously could recognize the anger that was now rolling from me in his direction.

"What do you want Morelli?"

"As far as the FBI think, I told them that I could get you to tell us about the explosion here"

"Really?"

"Yeah, they'd like nothing better than to get evidence from here"
"Not happening"

"Will you at least talk to me?"

"Morelli for a good cop you're acting like a jerk"

"How's that?"

"If you think you know Steph then you should realize she was set up, whatever happened here, Steph had nothing to do with it, and I can prove that"

"Yeah, well that's not the problem, they've got enough evidence to lock her up and throw away the key. Here look at these"

He threw a folder onto the table, photographs sliding out. They were photos of Steph at the various locations she'd been to, collecting those dam letters, the last one was her on the bike leaving Miami airport.

"What are these supposed to prove?"

"That she was part of a network of extremists"

"How do these prove anything?"

"Because the people in the pictures with her are known to the FBI"

"These aren't originals, and you know it, anyone good on a computer could set these up. FBI have the originals, or were these from another snitch they seem so keen on using?"

Morelli sighed and looked away as Santos looked closely at the photos. Then he sat down a chair away from me, shoulders hunched.

"I know she couldn't have done this, but the dam FBI won't listen, they like to think it's an open and shut case and seem real happy to believe all this bullshit. I didn't know anything about any evidence they had until after the sting, hell, I just seemed to be along for the ride. I couldn't believe it when we surrounded a woman in a black leather jacket and it was Steph. Those dam FBI agents didn't seem surprised though. Manoso where Steph is concerned we both want her safe, and she isn't. I can't do anything or be seen to be doing anything but I know you can do things I can't"

"Like what Morelli?"

"Manoso she got hurt real bad, the dam FBI thought she just banged her head. I got to see her last night and she's in a bad way. Eventually I insisted on a doctor examining her, 'cos of course the FBI just hauled her into a cell. By the time a doctor got to her she was unconscious, he discovered she had internal bleeding. They moved her to a secure hospital for emergency surgery"

"Where Morelli?"

"The Federal Bureau of Prisons located in SeaTac, Washington"

"Which hospital Morelli?"

He took a scrap of paper from his coat pocket and held it on the table with his hand over it.

"She'll be there for two more nights, I never told you this"

When he let go of the paper he stood up and left the room without a backward glance, Santos left with him then returned a minute later. I turned the paper over to read the address.

"St Francis Hospital 34515 9th Ave S, Federal Way, WA 98003"

"You believe him?"

"Yeah I think I do, hell Santos she's on the other side of the country"

"So? Let's get upstairs and make plans to go get our girl back"

As we climbed the stairs to five Santos seemed more up beat than me, How was that? All sorts of ideas were running through my mind, but we only had a short time span. Maybe, maybe now was the time to call in a favor from that friend of mine.

"Santos you go and give the news to the team, I've got an idea but I need to make a phone call first"

In my office I was hesitant as I picked up the phone, this was a really big favor to ask, totally illegal and if caught would land us all in a heap of trouble, the thing was this seemed to be the only solution I could come up with.

"Manoso what the hell you ringing me for?"

"Good morning to you as well Kade"

"Great to hear from you, I was just thinking of you last week, how's things going, you still belong to Uncle Sam?"

"No, found better things to do, look Kade I haven't got a lot of time and if you say no then I'll understand"

"What, a job too hard for you?

"Kade are you still based on the west coast?"

"Yeah up in Washington State, why?"

"I need help and this is personal"

"Fire away"

So I did, I gave him enough information to cover everything that had happened without the minute details, finishing with the whereabouts of Steph and that she was ill.

"Is this the babe who you lent my hat to?"

"Yeah, Kade, that's my Babe"

"Give me two hours with my team to look at possible scenarios then we'll video conference, say 1500"

"Thanks Kade"

All right maybe a way forward, though how we'd ever pull this off I wasn't sure. I went into the war room and nodded at Tank, Santos and Bobby to follow me to my office. As we sat down Tank had a grin on his face.

"You call Kade, best person to have on your side and he's already in that area?"

I laughed; this is why they are my closest friends and why I trust them with my life.

"Yeah, he's doing some recon then video conferencing with us at 1500, I told him everything that's happened to give him an oversight of just how complex this whole situation has gotten"

"Ranger are you only including us on this?"

"Bobby you know as well as me that whatever happens is going to be highly illegal and we could end up with every alphabet agency down our throats? I don't want to get anyone involved where it might impact on their lives; we also have a business that guys rely on for a wage, so Rangeman has to be seen as totally innocent. I'll only risk myself because if Kade helps to get Steph out then we'll basically be on the run"

"Well I'm in whether you like it or not, she's hurt and I'm gonna be taking care of her, Santos what about you?"

"I'm in, I feel so upset that she was hurt and taken on my watch. In a controlled environment you know we are formidable, Tank?"

"I'm in, there's nothing better that I'd like to do than being with you on this, just like the good old days, but I think I need to be here to deflect the shit and cover for you boys, besides where ever you end up you'll have to keep a low profile"

I looked around and nodded as I agreed with their decisions.

"I didn't mention any of Morellis conversation to the rest, so Ranger, you need to decide who's going to be in the know"

"At the moment we seem to have a team of Ram, Cal and Hector so they would be my choice"

Santos got up and stood by the window looking out.

"What's bothering you Santos?"
"The timing yesterday, Ranger, we arrived and not five minutes later those bikers get a message to move. There's a leek somewhere, someone who knew Steph was on her way or someone who was already there when she arrived."

"You mean someone here or someone who was part of the sting operation?"

"I'd say both. I mean how did someone know that Steph would be at the bank at that time? And if Steph was the objective then the FBI or police must have known in order to set up their operation"

"I agree with you, but at the moment we need to get Steph out and safe"

"Yeah, but to go back to your point I agree with those three being in the know, they're already working on it, but I think we need a cover story for us three disappearing that goes out to the rest of the men and possibly outside of Rangeman. No ones stupid, news of Stephs escape and you'll be at the top of the list"

As my computer signaled an incoming call I hit the stealth control for the room, basically shielding it from any type of surveillance, Hector had scanners throughout the building for bugs that may be planted but I always erred on caution.

"Rangeman here"

I saw Kade and two other faces I recognized, my guys moved to see the screen and to be in view of the camera.

"The rest of the "A" team, how you guys doing? Long time eh boys?"

"Kade I think everyone knows each other?"

"Yeah Ranger all worked together on some mission or other, hell as a team we'd be formidable"

We certainly would be, this group of seven men would be the elite of the elite, the two other guys had both been with me on missions, very good in their specialist field. Tobi was expert at hand to hand and a proficient marks man while Jobe was a demolition expert and driver. Kade was very similar to me; he was an excellent leader, strategist and all rounder.

"So Kade what do you think?"

"We're in, that girl of yours has put up with enough shit in her life without this, and I agree someone went to a lot trouble to set her up, as you say there's a bigger picture out there and we're in this to the end"

"So any ideas?"

"Recon found her in intensive care. The agents with her are pretty blasé about security, she's in no condition to escape on her own and I think they reckon no one knows where she is, they've got her in under a different name, Kaitlin Page"

Bobby took over the conversation.

"Kade what are her injuries?"

"Internal bleed from right kidney caused by an extreme external force, that's what's written in her records. Know what caused it?"

"No, prognosis?"

"They want her moved out day after tomorrow, apparently they went in to repair the bleed through keyhole, so theoretically she should be fit for transport. I'm not sure 'cos she's still out of it, lost a lot of blood"

"So how do we get her out without blowing covers or hurting bystanders"

"Got it all planned out, and we're in and out tomorrow night"

"Explain"

"My girl is a medic, like you Bobby, works with our teams, she got in today and has clearance to be in and out of her room. We've got a genius that's hacked into the hospital system and added her as the female doctor to attend. Tomorrow night there's going to be a distraction, electrical failure, and Angel will rig Stephs machines to show a flat line when the generators kick in. Two of us guys will move her to the mortuary and out to a waiting army field medical vehicle that's equipped and we'll take her to a private airfield and fly her out. Angel and I will be with her and these two bozos will pilot. There's a Jane Doe in the mortuary with similar features so we'll drop Stephs file on her"

"Hell Kade you make it sound easy, you sure you want to get this involved?"

"You can give me my hat back when I see you Ranger"

I was absolutely taken aback by what Kade had said; it's simplicity and the fact that he was personally going to get involved.

"Where to Kade?"

""You know that island I was always after? Well I'll meet you there, just be sure you don't leave any crumbs to follow"

"We're on our way Kade, I'll leave you with these three to tidy up any details and see you there"

"You bet"

I left the office and went up to seven, I felt so emotional. Relief that Steph had been found, relief that Kade had a plan to get her to safety, but also anxious at how ill she might be. Knowing where we were going to be, I packed two bags, one for myself and one for Steph. Feeling better at having done such a mundane task I headed back downstairs to work with Santos and Bobby on planning how we were going to leave. They looked up as I entered so I looked over Bobby's shoulder to see what he was doing.

"I'm putting together a list of medical supplies we could need and Santos is going through equipment, once we've done that I'm talking with Angel, and Santos with Tobi to decide what we need and what they'll have"

"OK do either of you know where his island is?"

They looked at me as though I was stupid.

"I thought you knew?"

"I do, it's called Ile De Caille and it's 3 miles off the northern tip of Grenada, road network provides easy access. There were 4 houses, as well as an airstrip. Electricity is available, and water stored in a 40,000-gallon tank. Knowing Kade he's probably built a fortress there by now so I'm sure there'll be plenty of supplies"

"How long has he owned it?"

"About five years, but I think he's probably worked on it in the last couple, he always wanted his own island"

"So we need a cover story while wer'e away, use your own names at the start then if necessary use a cover id"

"Santos and I can travel to Miami and out to Cuba, I'll play at the devastated friend with his cousin, Juan can run interference to make it seem we're there for a few weeks, and I still have family contacts in Cuba. Bobby you need to go a different route, maybe a medical volunteer group? Somewhere where you'll be out of communication?"

"Yeah, Honduras, then I can come in through Venezuela"

"OK then we need a small plane that's not tied to any of us, Santos?"

"Not a problem, we can pick it up out of Miami, then as long as Kade has fuel stored I can fly over to Venezuela for Bobby"

"They plan to take Steph out tomorrow night, Sunday, so I assume he'll fly straight out to arrive Monday. I'll book two tickets to Miami for early tomorrow evening and speak with Juan to expect us, Santos can you arrange to have a plane Monday?"

"I'm on it"

"Bobby?"

"On it, I'll look to fly out tomorrow to San Pedro Sula, Honduras then onto Barquisimeto, Lara State Venezuela Monday, hopefully you can pick me up maybe Tuesday morning?"

"OK I'll talk this through with Tank, then in the morning I'll go to the bonds office and let the word slip out that I'm going down to Miami"

I talked through with Tank how we were travelling, and the cover story he'd need to spread around.

"I don't think Bobby's cover is that important outside of Rangeman, I'm just concerned that our departures so close together would raise questions"

"Why don't we bring in a medic from Miami, there are two of them there, and just say Bobby has gone for more training?"

"That could work, if the FBI ask, then any volunteer work could be classed as field work training"

"Go get yourself organized and get Little Girl sorted, we'll keep in touch, and I'll keep on with investigating here"

I booked the flights to Miami and asked Juan to meet us at the airport. The first leg of this trip was going to be very public. I had sent the files to Pete letting him know I'd be away from Trenton, but would keep in touch, then made sure I had a copy of every piece of information to take to the island with me.