Thank you all for the wonderful reviews. And thank you Margaret for taking the time to read ahead and beta for me. Sorry this chapter took so long to post, you know how real life can be.

If you recognize them, they are not mine :)

Chapter 31—A Disturbing Find

Cal's POV

I'd won the overnight on monitors, so the following day I wasn't going to be on shift with Ram. He promised to look through the papers he and Rafe had picked up in Whittier's house and I took the laptop home with me to peruse at my leisure.

I came across a folder of photos and went into the kitchen to get another cup of coffee before I methodically went through them. I was waiting for the cup to brew when my cell vibrated in my pocket.

I took it out to see who the caller was. Everyone at Rangeman knew I'd pulled monitors tonight and most would leave me alone to let me sleep. Unfortunately, that sleep wasn't happening.

It was Ram. And I knew he wouldn't call unless it was important.

"Yo."

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"I'm not tired. I was just about to go through a folder of pictures on Whittier's laptop. What's up?"

"I've got one better. I found the Guzman's license plate number on one of the scraps of paper we took from the kitchen."

"What the hell?"

"I'm on my way down to you. Let's go through that laptop together."

"Ok Bro. Coffee's on."

"See you in three."

Now I was anxious to open that folder. What the hell was Whittier doing with Ella and Louis' plate number? The knock on my door took me out of my thoughts. I let Ram in and we headed to the kitchen so I could make him a cup of coffee. I had a feeling we were in for something big.

While it brewed. I brought Whittier's laptop into the kitchen. I pulled up the folder that contained the pictures and holding my breath I opened it.

"Ram, come here," I said as I clicked on the first image.

"Shit."

It was Ella sitting behind the wheel of her 2012 Nissan Murano. It looked like Whittier had been targeting more than Stephanie.

"Where is Ella today? Do you know what her plans are?" I asked Ram.

"Do I look like her secretary? Of course I have no idea, but Ranger needs to know about this."

"Don't be an asshole. And I agree," I said grabbing my phone from the breakfast bar. I quickly found the contact I was looking for and placed the call.

"Yo?"

I told Ranger what we'd found.

"Well I don't want to alarm Ella, but this is serious. I'm here with Steph, so could one of you call Louis and give him the rundown? I'll call Bobby and have him rearrange some schedules so Ella can have a team with her if she has to go out...although I'd prefer she stay in. And I'd finish going through those photos too. You never know what other surprises you might find in there."

I was just about to place the call to Louis when the alarm in my kitchen went off. I'm a designated first responder so it had to be something important. I turned it off and patched a call through to the control room.

"It's Cal. My red alert just activated. What's up? I can be in the garage in three."

"The Guzman car just went off the grid."

"Was Ella in it?"

"I don't know. Can you go up to six and knock on their door? I saw Louis in the maintenance room till around four this morning. He should be home. And I'll send a team to the last coordinates we picked up on the car.

I dropped everything and Ram and I ran up the stairs to the Guzman apartment. I rang the bell and banged on the door at the same time. A few seconds later a very shocked-looking Ella answered.

"Cal. Ram. What's the matter?"

"Is Louis out?" I asked knowing it wasn't Ella in the car.

"No, he's sleeping. What's the matter?" she asked again.

The shock hit me at that moment and I pulled her into my arms. "I'm just so glad you're ok," I said, holding her tight.

"Cal," she said emphatically, "what is going on?"

I quickly explained and watched as all the color drained from her face. "It's Ernie. Ernie has my car. We have to make sure he's ok."

I called Hal to let him know and then Ram and I went down to the garage. We'd need more than just a team at those coordinates.

When we got in the vicinity of Hamilton and Beacon we heard before we saw anything. Fire engines with sirens blaring were making there way to the same coordinates we were. Or at least it seemed like it. I rounded the corner and it looked like a scene I'd expect from Steph. The Guzman car, or what was left of it, was nothing but a heap of smoking metal. I started looking around for Ernie. Thankfully I spotted him leaning against a mailbox holding his hand to his heart. I quickly called Bobby, then placed a 911 and maneuvered our car out of the right of way. Ram and I jumped from our vehicle before it came to a full stop. I ran to Ernie while Ram went over to a shopkeeper who was standing in his doorway looking shell shocked.

"Are you ok?" I asked, trying to gauge the extent of his injuries.

"Some flying metal hit my shoulder, but I think I'm ok," he wheezed.

I didn't like the way he sounded, and his color looked off. I had a feeling he was having a heart attack.

"Cough Ernie, cough," I yelled at him, remembering reading somewhere that a hard cough could re-establish a normal rhythm of the heart.

He couldn't do it. He couldn't draw in enough breath to expel a cough. I didn't have any medical supplies with me although I knew Bobby had stuff in his bag. I was starting to panic when I saw Lester driving one of our fleet right up to us. Bobby jumped out with his medical bag.

"He may be suffering a heart attack. His color is off and I couldn't get him to cough."

Bobby looked at me strangely but nodded as he reached into his medical bag. He pulled out a bottle of aspirin and handed two to Ernie along with a small bottle of water.

"Take this while I put together a medical cocktail for you."

I watched as Bobby put a combination of glucose, insulin and potassium into an insulin needle. He unbuttoned Ernie's shirt and after cleaning the area with alcohol, he injected it into Ernie's belly.

"If you indeed are having a heart attack, this will keep it on the mild side. Now let's get you to St. Francis so they can evaluate you." He then turned to me,"For your information that coughing thing is just internet bullshit."

Oh, so that's where I read it.

The paramedics arrived moments later and applauded Bobby for his heroic efforts. They put Ernie on a stretcher and got him into the ambulance. Bobby got in with them.

It was time to go back to Rangeman and deal with Whittier. Whatever he was hiding would be common knowledge soon. I had a way of making people talk.

Bobby's POV

I made a quick decision once we got into the ambulance and asked the driver to take us to the children's clinic in Philly. Steph was there, so it would be easier to monitor the two of them if they were in the same place. I called Ranger's brother-in-law Erik Hansen to let him know we were on our way to his clinic. It was really no greater distance than to St. Francis and he'd get better care.

I was pretty sure I'd averted a major heart attack but his shoulder needed to be treated too. In my assumption, without the aid of an X-ray, I thought he had a broken clavicle.

We arrived at the clinic in Philly in record time. I'm sure the flashing lights that Steph would never allow on any ambulance she was in, helped. They took Ernie's vitals and did an EKG and thankfully he hadn't had a heart attack. The outcome of his shoulder was not as good.

His clavicle was broken in three places and they'd have to do surgery to put in a metal plate. They were telling me it couldn't be scheduled until 9 am tomorrow.

"Unacceptable," I replied, sounding as pissed off as I could. "Healing begins within the first three hours and breaking a bone to reset it, when you could have done it right the first time, is just unacceptable."

"But we're not set up for fracture patients. We have to bring in a specialist," the nurse on duty told me.

"So bring him in. We're good for another two hours and fifteen minutes."

I heard her harrumph as she walked away. It was a sound that would have made Ernie's cousin Lula proud.

And speaking of Lula, I'd heard that her and Tank had managed to get a flight back to the U.S. and were scheduled to land sometime around now. I was sure Hal had arranged transportation but whether or not they'd arrive at the hospital before heading to their house in Hamilton was another story. If Lula knew Ernie was here too, it was a pretty good bet we'd be seeing them within the hour.

Ranger's 'buddy' Sotolongo used his gang, the Marielitos, to spread word to the Latin Kings that Tank wasn't the man Fernandez set him up to be. It took a while to convince some of 'Nandez' more loyal followers but we are now sure that no one will be gunning for him upon his return to the states. There is still a bit of a contest going on as to who will become the next Inca though. Tater had been the contender because of his position as second in command, but Pedro Vasquez was certainly the favorite. It would be interesting to see how this all paned out.

And like every other Rangeman, except for Ranger, I was staying out of it.

Ranger had made some kind of deal with Sotolongo to give him untraceable weapons for his upcoming 'war' in exchange for spreading the word on Tank. Ranger doesn't usually deal in anything that blatantly illegal, so I had a feeling this was somehow sanctioned by a number of New Jersey officials. They'd know how many untraceable guns were being spread around Newark, have an idea on timing of this 'war' and Tank would be back on home soil. A win-win for all.

My nurse returned while I was musing to myself.

"It's all set up Mr. Brown. Mr. Banks will have his surgery within the hour. We're prepping the operating room now."

"Thanks Ms...," I looked for a name tag, "Ms. Rodriguez. Much appreciated."

I went off to let Ranger know what we'd accomplished.

I found Steph's room easily. Manny and Ramon were standing guard outside. I nodded to them and walked in. Steph was sound asleep and Ranger looked like shit.

Something big cast a shadow into the room, partially blocking the light from the hall. I turned and saw Tank standing there, Lula at his side looking dwarfed by his large frame.

"Well ain't you gonna invite us in?" she taunted. "After all, I ain't seen none of you in over six weeks. You'd think you'd be happy to see us."

Ranger and I ambled over and greeted first Tank, with a handshake and a man hug, and then Lula with a kiss to the cheek. She'd lost even more weight and had to be down to somewhere around 125 at this point. She looked fabulous and I told her so.

"Well thank you Bobby Brown. At least someone knows how to compliment a woman," she added, glaring at Ranger.

"Lula you continue to surprise me," he said. "Not only do you look like a million bucks but the work you've done for Rangman has probably brought in the same amount. I, for one, am happy to have you back."

"Now Bobby, you listen to that man and take notes. How the hell are you guys doing? I've missed your not so skinny asses."

"We've missed you too, Lula. And I've certainly missed the big guy," Ranger added.

I guess the noise of our reunion was enough to wake up Steph, even in her drug-induced state. She blinked, taking in all of us around her.

"Lula!" she called, excitedly.

Lula made her way over to the bed, smiling broadly, "Skinny white girl, how you doing?"

"What are you doing here?" Steph answered her question with a question.

"We just got back. I made Tankie come here to see you first. We ain't even been home yet. You scared the hell out of us this time."

"I guess I scared the hell out of everybody. I'm sorry. I just wanted to help Eula."

"And speaking of Eula, did Ella really give her a job?"

"That's what they tell me, but I've been in here so I really haven't seen it for myself."

When I realized I wasn't going to learn anything from listening to the women talk, I turned my attention back to Tank and Ranger.

"Just so you know," I told Tank, "I brought her cousin Ernie here less than an hour ago. He's due in surgery any time now."

Tanks eyes got wide. "Lula. I think you need to hear this."

I didn't want Stephanie to feel left out so I moved the conversation over to Steph's bed where Lula was sitting. I then told them the story about Ella's car and it's unfortunate demise and about Ernie's clavicle.

"I need to see him. He's the only family I got. I need to know that he's ok."

"They were prepping him for surgery," I lied. "We'll see him when he gets out. They won't even let me back there."

She wasn't happy with any of it, but she accepted it because I'd never lied to her before. It was just a small white one but I didn't want her upsetting Ernie before they sedated him. Anesthesia and high blood pressure are not a good combination.