Here's chapter 5!
It's Ranger's PoV from the earlier two chapters. I'm not so good at writing from his PoV but hopefully you like it :)
Thanks for the lovely reviews, I love you all
Not mine, not making any money
Ranger POV
As soon as my guns were removed I was harshly lifted up and led towards the house. The man that had captured me was tall, almost as tall as I was and looked very annoyed. I guess I would be too if somebody was trespassing my property without any warning and armed. I glanced to my right and saw that the rest of the guys were in the same boat as I was in. Tank was hold by a enormous guy dressed in black and had CB on the t-shirt back. At least we were at the right address. Tank looked pissed and I knew that he thought it was his fault that we were catched. I hope he knew that I didn't think so.
Behind Tank was Lester and Cal. I hadn't been expecting who their captures were. On was a woman, but I knew from previous occasions that women were as good as men were. They were like big cats, silent, beautiful and they strike when you expect it the least. Lester was looking at the woman who led him with that stupid smirk he had on his face every time there was somebody from the opposite sex near by. Cal looked confused and a bit embarrassed. His guy was a head taller than he was and almost as talkative as he was.
I turned my attention back to the guy holding me. He glanced at me and smiled. The smile made me uncomfortable. The smile a cat has on it's face when it has trapped a mouse.
We were now walking in the shade of the huge mansion and I felt the adrenaline pump up. This place smelled like death. Well not literary, it smelled summer and roses. The guy next to me opened the huge wooden door and we stepped into the hall. I let my eyes adjust to the lighting and then I saw it. The hall was huge and there was two doors on either side of us. I could smell food to my right side so I guessed the kitchens were there. I had no idea what was on the left side. There was a beige carpet on the floor, muffling the noise of footsteps. A large fireplace was on the left side. On the wall against us were glass doors leading to a living room with large furniture. The sun poured in from windows. We stood there silently. I was becoming agitated.
"Stand still for crying out loud!" The woman next to Lester said. She looked pissed of and I could see that this was going to end badly for Lester.
"Stand still, Santos!" I barked and tried to hide the stress in my voice. Lester froze and the woman looked relieved.
Our attention shifted to the stairs as soft steps were heard. A woman appeared in the middle and she paused to look at us. She was gorgeous in her blue evening gown. Her black hair was pulled back into a bun and her eyes sparkled. She looked familiar in a distant way. My brain worked overtime trying to place the face. Her blue eyes cut to me and she looked curious. And pissed. She was Charlotte Brown.
She walked down the last steps and I was surprised how small she was. She was taller than Stephanie had been but so much slimmer and more toned. This woman was pure muscle but still in a femine way. Her dress fit her perfectly and made her look lethal. I guess that she was too. As I looked at her I felt weird, like I should remember something.
"Look what the cat brought in, darling." the man beside me said, breaking the silence. I glanced at the man and then at the woman. I knew she was Charlotte Brown so the man must be Charles. I hadn't picutred him to look like that.
"Well, well, well." she said. "It's our colleagues from America who think they are better than us." She sounded very angry and I became confused. Why did she think we thought we were better than they were? She took a deep breath, as if she tried to control herself, and then smiled. That didn't put me at ease. This woman was lethal and I was honestly scared of her. She seemed like she could do anything. Not even ten story tall men had this effect on me.
"Not so tough now, are you?" She said to us and walked toward us. My eyes indistinctly went to her legs and I noticed that she had a huge slit on her dress. The gun that was strapped on her thigh made me swallow, she was not messing around. She stopped and the gun was out of sight again. She crossed her arms.
"Why are you here?" she snapped at us. I could feel the guys looking at me to explain, it had after all been my idea to fly here. I tried with a friendly approach and smiled at her.
"Very nice." Complements always help out. " I assume you are Charlotte?" She glared at me.
"Yes. And you are Ricardo Carlos Manoso from Trenton NJ also known as Ranger. You have a daughter in Miami and family in Trenton. You are divorced from Rachel who lives with your daughter in Miami. She has remarried to a guy named Ron. You founded RangeMan, who until recently was the best security company in the world. You have buildings around the states, in cluding one in Trenton, Miami, Boston and Atlanta. You have with you the man you call Tank, Lester Santos and Cal Stevens . They all work for you in the Trenton office. Can I stop here or do you want the full lay-out of your offices?"
Who was she? How did she know all of this, nobody except my employees and not even all of them knew this. My smile change into a grimace. The security I had had fell away and I felt exposed. Naked.
"Now why are you here?"she asked again. I had lost my ability to talk.
"I.. I don't know what to say.." I said to her with a confused voice. I stared at my feet trying hard to get a grip.
"Can you tell me why you are here before my patience runs out?" she said to Tank.
"We decided to come here to check you guys out as we didn't know you. We thought it might be for the best if we met and discussed business." His voice was controlled.
"Do you want to stay here with us?" She asked Tank again. "It's a horribly dull drive from London and the hotels aren't worth the money you pay for the room. I have a guest house if you would like to stay?" She asked him kindly. "We'll give you a little privacy."
We were led through the hall into the living room. I was spacious and airy and decorated with greens and whites. We sat down on the couches and stared at her as she was leaving. Right as she was at the doors, she turned.
"Don't run, we wont be as kind the next time." She said with a sweet smile and closed the door. We watched as the people outside the door laughed and she glanced at us. Then she kissed that Charles cheek and they left. The others spread out, my guess would be to secure the property. Finally we were alone.
"Wow..." Lester murmured and leaned against the back of the sofa. "That was one heck of a lady."
Us others agreed with him and then fell into silence.
"So, what do you think?" I asked them after a while.
"Yeah, why not? I mean that drive is quite dull." Cal said and shrugged. Lester nodded.
We agreed on staying, just to check them out and figure a cleaver way of doing things. Silence again.
"Did you notice that the lady looked distantly like Steph?" Tank said after a while. Heads turned to him and he shrugged.
"Just saying. It's kinda eery. "
Without giving us anymore time to think she marched into the room again with the others. We stood up and I let Tank lead the way, so I could look at her. She did look like her in a distant way. The shape of her eyes and face matched hers but that's about it. My heart fluttered.
"We like to accept the offer of staying here, if that's still possible." Tank said with the most polite way. She nodded to us and we relaxed a little bit. Not much though, but so much we could in this situation.
"That's good." She said and turned to Charles. "Do we have any apartments empty in the guesthouse?"
"Yes, two on the second floor. Martin and Dianna have the week of. I think they are clean and ready." he said to her with a smile. I didn't like this guy but I couldn't tell you why, I just didn't.
"You are lucky. We have two apartments that are empty, now if you would follow us?" She took the guys hand and led the way through the door at the back, leading the way to the back yard.
It was a inner yard, formed by the main house and the two others. A lake could be seen in the horizon. A large swimming pool was placed in the middle and a terrace with three persons sitting it. They smiled and waved at Charlotte who waved back. I couldn't see one camera but I knew they were there.
We were led into the house on the right side and up the stair to the second floor. She opened a little door on the right side and motioned us to go inside. The apartment was styled with greys, metal's and whites. There was no personal stuff and our bags were placed on a bed in the bedroom. So they had decided that we would stay no matter what we thought.
She sent Lester and Cal across the hall and left us alone. I sat on the couch in the living room and sighed.
"She looks a bit like her. Maybe like a cousin or something.." I said to Tank who was in the kitchen checking the fridge.
"Yeah.. Quite a coicidence." he muttered and returned to the bedroom. "I'm so sleeping on the bed, you can sleep on the couch if you think you can't handle me."
I chuckled and decided that it would be for the best if I slept in the living room. I picked up a phone on a side table and read a list above it with different numbers. I dialed the one named "Main house."
"Hello." A man's voice answered to me.
"Hum, It's Carlos Manoso from the guest house." I answered him as I looked at Tank unpacking.
"Yes. What can I do for you?" he voice said to me and could hear somebody in the back.
"I would like another blanket, if possible?" There was two pillows but only one blanket.
"There is a cupboard on the hall at first floor in the guest house and there's loads of pillows and blankets."
"Oh, Thank you" I said and hoped I hadn't disturbed the guy in any way. I said good bye and hung up. Then I heard that Tank was taking a shower so I left to hunt me a blanket. I exited the apartment and walked the stairs down. I had noticed the cameras so I tried to be as polite as possible. I noticed the cup board under the stairs and opened it. The guy was right there was a ton of pillows and blankets to choose from. I took a black one and closed the door. As I walked up the stairs Cal walked down.
"No way I'm sleeping with Lester in the same bed." he muttered to me as he walked past me.
Ranger POV
We were picked up by the guy I suspected to be Charles at fifteen to six. He led the way though the garden.
"So how do you know Mrs. Brown?" I asked him. He glanced at me and decided that he could tell me.
"I met her way back. I'm her first employee." his voice was tired.
"Okay." I said to him and we fell back into silence.
"So, where's Mr. Brown?" Tank asked soon after that.
"Abroad. He's hunting a skip." He looked straight ahead and I didn't believe him one bit but let it go.
We walked into the house and I had been right about the location of the kitchen. The kitchen was large and welcoming and there was people sitting by the table. We sat down at the other end of the table and the guy left. We waited for a while and then we heard the noice of people running down stairs. One of the woman shook her head.
Charlotte and the guy ran inside and hopped on their seats across the table. It looked like they were kicking each other.
"Hey, stop that already. I swear that you are like kids." The woman said to them with a chuckle. Charlotte smiled at her and kicked the guy again. He stuck his tongue out at her.
"We have guests too, remember?"
I saw that Charlotte had been caught by surprise. She stared at us smiling at her. I couldn't help but to frown, she might know something about Stephanie and her.. disappearance.
"Well... Let's eat then, we'll talk business tomorrow as I bet you are tired. So are we too, it's been a hard day. The kitchen is always open if you get hungry." She added and we nodded. I saw that there was steak on the meny and dug in. It had been over eight hours since I last ate. I talked to my guys at the same time.
"I mean, she behaves herself like Stephanie." I said to them and was caught looking at her. She looked away and talked to the guy.
"Yeah... But I don't think Stephanie would have invited us over." Lester said with his mouth full of steak. I heard Charlotte talk to the woman about a spa.
"Spa?" I asked her.
She explained things to us, then she left the table. We too were finished so we excused us as well and walked back to the guesthouse. We decided that we could go swimming and arranged that we would meet by the pool in ten minutes.
Ranger POV.
The clock was nearing half two and I couldn't sleep. I lay there looking at the ceiling and sighed. I stood up and silently dressed and walked towards the main house. I needed to talk to Charlotte about Stephanie. I opened the back door and snuck up to second floor where I hid in the shadows. I could guess that she lived on the third floor and tip-toed up the stairs. Now I had a dilemma, which one was it. I guessed and turned the door handle on the door to the right. It opened and I stepped inside.
As soon as my feet touched the ground I was pressed against the floor with my face pressed at the carpet. Sombody had their gun at my head and foot against my back, I layed silently.
"Don't move or I'll shoot you!" I heard Charlotte's voice say to me and the weight of the foot disappeared. The lights got switched on and I got the permission to stand up. I was standing in a hall with a chandelier and table. There was many doors. Charlotte aimed at me with her gun. I saw that it wasn't the same one she had earlier. She was dressed in hot pants and black t-shirt. I felt sparks in my heart but decided to ignore them, that's what I'd been doing the whole day.
"Why are you here?" She barked at me, angry because I hadn't followed the rules.
"I wanted to see you and ask you a question." I said to her and saw her become guarded.
"Why do you want to talk to me?" She sounded worried and shifted her weight.
I lowered my hands and sighed. I couldn't bear the fact if she didn't know where she was. She was my last clue.
"My friend is missing and as you knew Europe, I thought that you might know where she is. And you look a bit like her. Her name is Stephanie Plum." I looked at her and saw her face go pale.
"Are you okay?" I asked, worried that she might faint. She shook her head as to try to compose herself.
"I'm fine. What do you want from my cousin anyway?" she asked me and I suddenly felt numb and like my feet would give in. I leaned on the table for some support. She knew her!
"I want to talk to her and tell her I didn't mean it and that I'm sorry." I said the truth in case she saw her. She looked pissed off but also insecure.
"She told me what you had done to her. You killed her." She whispered to me, looking hurt.
"I don't know why I said so, I meant to say yes but... "I sighed. "So you're her cousin?" I asked trying to change the subject.
"Yes. I'm Vinnie's little sister." She looked at me and put the gun at the table.
"Really? I wonder why I haven't heard about you before this... fiasco?"
"They don't talk about me as I ran away when I was 13. Was a disgrace to the family." she said and looked at the watch.
"It's getting late and I need to sleep. Can we please continue later?" she said and opened the door for me. I walked out and watched her close the door behind me.
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