A/n: I've got 99 reviews and there's a Jay-Z joke in there somewhere but I'm not able to wrangle it...probably because I use words like 'wrangle'. Thanks a heap, everyone who left a review!
The noise outside of Bobby's medical suite, normally a respectfully low hum, was thick with excited voices as the men of Rangeman milled around, waiting for news. The fact that Hector had struck out alone and accomplished, in one night, what they'd been unable to do for weeks – find the key players of the gang they'd been in pursuit of – secretly rankled more than a few of them, though they'd never be insensitive enough to bring it up. At least, not yet.
Inside the suite, tension was the dominant emotion. Ranger, Hector, and Lester had pushed their way in behind Mark and Giana before firmly shutting the rest of the men out. Stephanie had arrived seconds later, banged on the door until she was admitted, and now stood beside Gia as Bobby examined her, probed her, and asked all manner of intrusive questions.
Giana insisted, for the tenth time, that she was fine. They'd smacked her around a little, she said, and handled her roughly, but that was all. When Bobby asked, quietly in her ear, if she'd like a rape kit done, she sighed pitifully and said, "No one touched me. No one drugged me, no one raped me. I was conscious the entire time, after I woke up in the car, but we were still driving. They just tied me up and left me blindfolded."
"How did you escape?" Mark asked the million-dollar question.
The change in her posture was immediate. Her head lifted higher, she pushed her shoulders back and the set of her jaw line tightened. The resolve in her stance would have been clear to the most oblivious person. Giana raised her violet eyes to Hector's steely chocolate brown ones and said, "They let me go. Hector picked me up while I was walking home."
The vehemence with which she spit out those two sentences was strong enough that everyone in the room paused for a second. Hector and Gia continued to stare at each other, unblinking, for several long seconds before Hector delicately and almost imperceptibly bowed his head at her. She exhaled and relaxed her shoulders before addressing Bobby.
"Now that you know I'm fine, can you check him, please? He's bleeding." And with that, she hopped off the bed and pulled Hector to it, waiting expectantly. She tried to project an air of calm assurance, but the way she had her arms wrapped tightly around her torso belied her cool exterior.
Unable to curb the steadily building need to hold her any longer, Lester stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her body. She relaxed against his chest, sinking into his warmth, before snaking her arms around his back. He rubbed small, soothing circles between her shoulders before planting a soft, sweet kiss on the top of her head, choosing for the moment to ignore Hector's glowering stare.
Mark, subtle as a flying mallet, spoke. "So you disappear, show back up hours later, with Gia, you're bleeding and in Commando Mode, and you're telling us you just…what, found her hiking back here?"
"It's the truth, Tater. Hector found me walking and gave me a ride back to Rangeman." Gia's voice, muffled by Lester's chest, was stern and left no room for argument. Stephanie exchanged a knowing glance with Les; something was up.
"And the cuts? Why did Hector show up looking like he went a few rounds with a steak knife?" He persisted. Mark Tatum was a genial, easy going guy. Few things got his Irish up, but being lied to was one of them. He clenched his fists by his side, unwilling to let the matter drop.
Gia shrugged and lifted her head from Lester's chest. "Sparring? Sometimes the guys get carried away in the gym." And she lowered her head to his chest again. The need for comfort was overwhelming her; the warm little cocoon Lester provided was a welcome distraction.
Lester tried his luck. "Listen, sweets, if there's something we can do to help, we'll do it. You just need to tell us what happened. We're on your side."
Giana took a deep breath and spared a glance at Hector. She met the eyes of every person in the room, one by one, and in a tone that left no room for argument, said, "They let me go. That is what I will tell anyone who asks. No one came to the warehouse for me, and everyone was fine when I left. That's it. It's not going to change, ever." The silence that followed rang heavy with everything left unsaid, the implication of her statement undeniable to everyone in the room.
"You're done, Hec. Twelve stitches for the gash on your side; the smaller cuts will heal on their own. Don't get the bandage wet for a few days, here's the ointment you'll need to apply twice a day." As Bobby rattled off care instructions, Lester felt Giana's body begin shaking in earnest; the adrenaline letdown was hitting her hard. After asking Stephanie to grab a can of Coke from the fridge Bobby kept in the infirmary, Lester took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. She gave him a grateful squeeze before releasing him and wrapping her hands around the can, sipping slowly before easing herself on the bed next to Hector.
Hector gave Bobby a nod before standing to address the room. "Gia's staying here for a few days. She'll be on two with me. I'll need a visitor's pass so she's not trapped in my apartment. I don't want her to stay at her house alone just yet." This was news to Gia, made apparent by the way her head snapped toward Hector. Her indignant expression softened when she saw how bone tired her friend was, and she nodded after hesitating only a moment.
Hector looked at Ranger and said, "I'm going to review the video feed from last night. It might not be a bad idea to remind the employees of the non-disclosure agreement they signed and what, exactly, that entails." The message was clear – Hector was planning to do some editing of the Rangeman security feed from last night; why was not yet clear. He wanted the employees to remember that they were prohibited from discussing anything that happened inside the building or pertaining to any account information they were able to access.
After receiving a nod from Ranger, Hector helped Giana stand. The two joined hands and, after bidding the others goodbye, left the medical suite, headed toward Hector's apartment on two.
The crush of men outside the infirmary parted to let Hector and Giana through, no one daring to ask what happened. After they climbed aboard the elevator and the doors slid shut, the hum of voices picked up steadily until Ranger exited Bobby's suite, barking a "Back to work!" that sent the men scrambling. Ranger headed to his office, Stephanie in tow, and Lester grabbed Bobby and headed toward the indoor gun range to blow off some steam.
Ranger sat at his desk, staring at his computer screen. A quick glance at the clock confirmed his suspicion – he'd been sitting here for half an hour, running over what happened in his mind.
Hector had found Giana and rescued her, of that Ranger had no doubt. He also suspected that he'd dispatched her captors in the same manner as the three men in the house Yun-Ji had directed them to. Ranger was unclear on where the men were located, and the state of the gang itself; would there be retaliation? Should they be preparing for retribution? There was also the unanswered question that Vince posed in their meeting – did Jimmy 'Curtains' Rosolli know more than he first let on? Their meeting had been postponed and Hector was getting some much needed rest, so that question would have to marinate a bit longer.
Ranger was pulled out of his reverie by his phone ringing. It was Junior at the front desk, and he sounded tense.
"Sir, Detective Morelli is here asking to speak with you."
Ranger raised his eyes to his wife's now alert form. He hung up the phone and stood, stepping around the desk and pulling Stephanie to her feet. He whispered that the police were here, and she nodded in understanding.
Show time.
Ranger entered Conference Room A – the same conference room where they'd severed ties with Morelli almost a week ago – and greeted Joe with a nod. Morelli was there in an official capacity, as evidenced by the two suits flanking him. Tank followed Ranger in with Bobby and Lester right on his heels.
"Carlos Manoso, meet Detective John Walsh, D.E.A. and Agent Maury Smith from the A.T.F. They're here to ask you a few questions." Joe made the initial introduction and left it to Ranger to introduce his men; Joe had never been able to keep them all straight, anyway.
Niceties aside, Ranger got down to business. "What can Rangeman do for the DEA now, gentlemen?" he asked, making clear his annoyance at being descended upon by Morelli clear.
"Mr. Manoso," began Agent Smith, "as you know, we've been working in conjunction with the TPD and Newark's police department to track the distribution of illegal military weapons by the Korean Dragon Crew." Here he paused, waiting for Ranger to agree with his assessment. When he was met with four blank stares, he hurriedly continued. "The DEA is here because, frankly, we've assumed all along the Mara's are involved with them, trading drugs for guns. We've found, recently, that that's not the case. Detective Walsh here has kindly agreed to stay on as a liaison.
"In the interest of wrapping this case up, I'm going to share some classified information with you gentlemen; I'd appreciate your discretion with this information. Last night, an anonymous call was place from a payphone outside of Linden, reporting gunshots being fired. When we arrived, we found eleven men, dead. They were spread throughout the warehouse, some shot, some stabbed. One poor bastard was slit from ear to ear. A single gun with a silencer was used, so we're assuming these men were killed by one individual. We also found three white cars, matching the description Miss Plum gave when you reported that Miss McGovern was 'allegedly' kidnapped."
Agent Smith did nothing to hide the smirk when he alluded that Gia's kidnapping was less than the truth, and Ranger did not take kindly to having his integrity questioned.
"Mrs. Manoso." He said softly, deceptively.
Agent Smith faltered. "Excuse me?"
"My wife. You referred to her as 'Miss Plum'. Her name is Mrs. Manoso."
Lester, Tank, and Bobby suppressed a grim smile; they knew Ranger well enough to know that their boss was not in the mood for some ABC agency suits to come into his business and throw around thinly veiled accusations. They sat back and waited for him to continue.
Agent Smith flushed and shot a glance at Morelli, who sat glowering at Ranger. Joe had shared with Smith and Walsh Ranger's reputation for vigilantism, and in his opinion, this assassination reeked of Rangeman involvement. Still, there was no proof so the proper channels had to be pursued. He cleared his throat and addressed Ranger.
"Since you reported that Miss McGovern had been kidnapped by Korean men driving white sports cars, and we found a warehouse full of dead Korean men and three white sports cars, it stands to reason that these were the men who took her. She wasn't found at the site; however, CSI has found her prints and a few long red hairs in one of the cars. We thought we'd come to you, see if you had any information you'd like to share with us to aid in her recovery." Having said his piece, Joe leaned back in the chair and waited. He knew that Ranger wouldn't be pressed into revealing anything, so a 'sit and see' approach was the only way to get any information out of him.
Ranger raised one eyebrow and said, "That's the reason you're here in an official capacity – to see if we have any information that will help you find Giana McGovern? Is that all, Detective?"
When Joe nodded, Ranger stood and said, "Then I think this meeting is over, gentlemen." When Tank, Bobby, and Lester stood to follow him out of the room, Joe couldn't resist a parting shot.
"Aren't you interested in recovering the woman who saved your wife, Manoso?"
Ranger turned to face the men still seated at his conference room table and paused for effect, a sinister grin spreading across his face. "Of course I am, detective. That's why we found her and brought her home this morning."
Then he shut the door in their stunned faces and pulled out his cell phone, immediately calling Hector to give him a heads up. Ranger wasn't sure what Hec's strategy was, but Hector Gutierrez had always been a man with a plan.
As expected, after Morelli and company were escorted from the building, TPD was back with a search warrant within the hour. Joe was red faced and steaming mad, so of course the men of Rangeman were instructed to ignore his requests for as long as humanly possible. The warrant was obtained for the sole purpose of ascertaining that Giana was, in fact, recovered and alive and well.
Twenty minutes after they gained entrance, the men in blue were granted an audience with the lady of the hour herself.
Gia took a seat in good old Conference Room A, across from the police officers, Detective Walsh and Agent Smith. She was accompanied by Hector and Ranger; Lester flat out refused to be excluded and stood just inside the door. Mark agreed to go home for the now, after being reassured that Gia would be closely looked after, and also to keep the news of her kidnapping to himself for the time being.
She was freshly showered, her wavy red hair still damp, and completely free of makeup. Les noted that she looked even more vulnerable and young with her skin freshly scrubbed – but then, he guessed that was the idea.
After asking her to state her name and date for the record, Morelli launched right into the questions.
"Please describe the events that led to your alleged kidnapping."
Giana painstakingly described their departure from the funeral home, Roy's abduction and subsequent murder, Stephanie pressing her panic button and lock picking the handcuffs, and finally their near escape from the roof.
"So how did they get you in the car?" he asked.
Gia shrugged and said, "I'm not sure. One minute I was trying to reach Stephanie's hand to climb the fire escape and the next, I was in a car with a bunch of strange men who didn't speak English."
"Where did they take you? How were you restrained?" Joe pushed on.
It was all downhill from there…at least for the Detectives. Giana swore that she was blindfolded the entire time. That the men only spoke in a foreign language so she didn't know any names or have any information to share with the police; she hadn't been able to determine where they took her since she was blindfolded in the car. That she had been 'handled roughly', pointing out her split lip and swollen, bruised face, and how, after hours of captivity, she'd been shoved into a car, driven to a payphone and pushed out onto the sidewalk, still blindfolded.
Joe was pulling at his hair in frustration at this point. "So you expect us to believe that they kidnapped you, held you and then just released you? You would've been the perfect leverage to use to draw out Gutierrez. You can't think we'd believe that." Joe Morelli had been in smelling distance of a career-making bust. The notoriety he'd have gained with taking down this gang, recovering stolen guns and possibly saving a kidnapped woman would have launched his career into a stratosphere he hadn't even dared to dream of; now, it was all compromised by one little red-headed girl who was lying through her teeth. Why, he wasn't exactly sure yet, but he knew she was covering for someone.
She shrugged. "Believe what you'd like, detective. After they shoved me out of the car, I found a payphone and made a call to Hector's cell phone. I'm sure the phone company will have records."
"And can you tell us what happened after you called Mr. Gutierrez, ma'am?" asked Agent Smith, placing a quieting hand on Morelli's shoulder.
"Sure. I described where I was. Hector told me to wait on a bench, he came and picked me up, and we drove back here. I was pretty exhausted, and scared, so Hec let me stay over in his apartment."
"And you didn't think it was important to notify the police department to let them know that you'd been released? None of you thought that was important?" Morelli sneered.
Ranger addressed Morelli in a voice that was full of disgust. "Since we learned some time ago that you couldn't be trusted to keep our best interests in the forefront, Detective, we naturally assumed that Miss McGovern's safe return wasn't at the top of your list of priorities. After all, 'hero rescues woman' doesn't look quite as impressive on a résumé as 'cop takes down local cartel', right, Morelli?" Joe hated Ranger, hated that he was so adept at reading other people, and hated himself because Ranger was right – he would have rather dismantled the gang from the inside out than sacrifice the mission to save one woman.
Ranger and Hector stood in one seamless motion and helped Gia out of her chair. Hector turned to the police and said, "I think you've got all the information from Miss McGovern you need to declare her 'found'. Lester will see you out."
Morelli was approaching meltdown territory. He slammed his open hand on the table and yelled, "I'm not an idiot! I know about you, Gutierrez, about your dirty little banger past, and this annihilation reeks of your handiwork. I'm going to go over ballistics with a fine-tooth comb. I'm going to subpoena every bit of evidence I can, and I'm going to get your little friend here to repeat this testimony under oath. And when I prove that you walked into that warehouse and murdered eleven men, you're going to rot in a cell for the rest of your life with the other thugs and criminals, right where you belong." And with that, Joe Morelli stormed out of the conference room and out of the building, followed closely by his men.
Later that night…
"I'm so scared, Hec. What if they can link this to you?" Gia whispered. They'd been holed up in his apartment since the police left, curled on the couch together, quietly absorbing the newest threat against them.
"They can't." he murmured, gently rubbing her head. She'd laid her head on his lap an hour ago, and he rhythmically stroked her hair while she worried and fretted.
"You fixed the recorded footage from that night?" she asked.
"Yes. It shows me leaving after I made the call from the payphone. It shows us coming back soon after that. I'm covered."
"But what if we miss something? What if they trip me up when they question me? You heard that cop today, he's gunning for you." Here she swallowed back a sob. Losing Hector, now, was unbearable, even in the hypothetical.
He continued to pet her head. "You'll do the best you can." He said.
"What if my best isn't enough?" came her strained reply.
For this, Hector had no answer. He had done everything possible to create an airtight alibi for that night…but mistakes happened. He had solid enough proof that he'd been at Rangeman at the time those bastards had been killed, but Giana was right. She wasn't familiar with police procedure or being questioned for hours, endlessly being asked the same thing twenty different ways in the hopes of garnering a confession.
"They'll be back, soon. Maybe tomorrow. And they'll have an arrest warrant next time." She whispered, tears leaking from her eyes.
They sat in silence as the minutes ticked by. A thought flickered in Giana's subconscious, like the first spark that starts a roaring fire. Her breath caught as she turned this thought over in her mind, needling it, trying to poke holes in it. Her breathing picked up and a small smile began to form on her face.
Hector noticed the change immediately, but waited for her to explain herself. She sat up abruptly, excited, and allowed the relief to wash over her, bathing her in satisfaction.
"I think I've got an idea. But we need to call Vaughn…tonight. And we'll need to call Pam before it's over, I think."
In Hector's second floor apartment at the Rangeman Headquarters in Trenton, New Jersey, Giana McGovern began to lay out the plan that would save both their skins.
And boy, was it a good one.