. .oOo.
Chapter 11
With his earpiece in place, Cal was monitoring the action on the street below. A complete lock down had been ordered, all the men knew what to do in a situation like this. He had sent two teams down to take care of the attack by the men who were after Aban. While Chet took his group of four men down to the front of the building, Woody and his team were moving around the back to come up behind the terrorists.
Though the men he was with said very few words, Aban was more than aware of what must be happening outside. He watched Cal and Lester with concern. This was all his fault. He had accidentally brought this danger right to the doorstep of the people who were helping him, and he felt awful. No matter how many times he asked himself how things could have gotten out of hand like this, the answer was always the same. He had done this.
Aban was not a soldier, not a terrorist either, no matter that he had joined up with some. He was regretting so many of the decisions that he'd made. It was painfully clear to him now that he lacked any kind instinct that would have helped him detect the men who had been following him. What had he done?
His skill with computers was all he had to offer. How could he have thought that he could get away with his reckless plan? He had seen what the organization was capable of. He knew that he was not safe, would never be safe from them. Oh, how could he have brought that danger here? Over and over again he was mentally beating himself up for being so stupid. So foolish.
He had been pacing the small office. Stephanie glanced up again from the computer to see the look on his face. She noticed again how tired and scared he looked. Several times she had assured him that he was safe here, but it had not seemed to help. Aban had great courage, she could see that from the intel that he had been gathering for years. She was impressed that he had held it together this long.
As much as she wanted to let him understand that as long as he was here, no harm would come to him, Stephanie could only do what she could do. And what she could do is to call on Ella to make things better for him. The message had already gone out to her that Aban would be staying here, and Ella was on top of making all the necessary arrangements. Stephanie was pretty sure that Aban would be very glad to meet Ella when the time came.
Suddenly Aban stopped. He held perfectly still, as if he was trying to gather enough strength to move forward. He knew what he had to do. The zip drive was safe, now he had to save Manoso's men who were fighting. Who were in danger because of him. Resolutely, Aban took several deliberate steps, making his way to the door.
Stephanie smiled, Aban was so easy to read. His body language said it all, and she knew that he was heading down to give himself up. Noble to be sure, but not necessary, her guys were going to handle the threat without Aban sacrificing himself.
Though Stephanie watched him, she did not try to stop him. She was not worried about what he was planning to do. Stephanie knew that Ella was just down the hall, and she would stop him in his tracks. Aban opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.
"Oh, hello," Stephanie heard Ella say. "You must be Mr. Lufti," she said. "I'm so glad to meet you."
Cal looked up, exchanging a knowing glance first with Lester, and then Stephanie. Placing one hand over his ear piece, he moved to the door and watched Ella in action. She was shaking Aban's hand with her right hand and gently laying her left hand on his shoulder, just as friendly and non-threatening as Ella could always be.
In just a few long strides Cal reached them. "Aban," Cal spoke softly so that his voice would not carry over his mouth piece. "This is Ella." He nodded toward her and smiled. "She keeps the place running smoothly," he said.
Aban looked from Cal to Ella, back to Cal. What was he to do? There men were men being shot at, good men who were only trying to protect him. It did not feel right that he was up here safe and doing nothing. He tried to make an excuse to pull away, but just then Cal held up his finger to stop him.
"Good," Cal said. "We'll get them a full report after Ranger gets back."
Both Ella and Aban listened in silence. "Secure the area and bring the teams back in."
Before Cal could explain, Lester joined them in the hallway.
"It's over," Lester confirmed. "Trenton's finest arrived just in time to haul them away." The smirk on his lips giving away what he felt about that. He would much rather have them locked up in the holding cells in the basement, an interrogation or two might shake loose some interesting information.
On the other hand, Ranger was on his way back, they had more to deal with than Aban's would be assassins. It was probably a good thing that the TPD took that headache away. Now that he had thought it through, he was satisfied and he clapped Aban on his shoulder and grinned.
"Who's hungry?" he asked, directing the question to Ella. She took up his on cue immediately and moved both Aban and Lester down the hall with her. She would show Aban to the apartment she had made ready for him, but first, dinner was waiting in the break room.
Reluctantly Aban allowed them to lead him along. Lester understood, and with unfeigned enthusiasm he recounted all that had happened since the moment that they had pulled him from the car. Aban asked question after question, only pausing when Ella set plates of food on the table in front of them.
Gratitude overwhelmed him and he grasped her hand in his. Words did not seem enough to express how he was feeling. Ella patted his hand, her eyes showed him that she understood. In that moment Aban felt at home in a way that he never had before. The fear was gone, so too was the guilt that had threatened to consume him only a short time ago. He owed these people so much, and no words would be ever enough.
. .oOo.
Kinkaid was furious. He now knew exactly who hated him enough to try to do as much damage as he could, not only to Kinkaid himself, but to the team that he had been kicked off of. From the moment he had seen the text message, that Stephanie had sent to Ranger, he knew that they were all in a lot of trouble.
The men watched as the general paced up and down the isle in the private jet that was now whisking them back to DC. His actions unnerved most of them. This was not the behavior that they were accustomed to from the rock solid man they had known all of these years. He was not easily rattled, and that he was now spoke volumes. No one knew what to expect next.
He had to work this out in his mind. Kinkaid himself was not used to feeling like this. Feeling conned, outwitted, misled, no this did not happen to him. The pacing was all that was keeping his temper under control at the moment. But soon he would have to share what he now knew with the men.
That they had spent all this time in Arizona had only delayed what he was sure Ellis had in store for them. He was a dangerous man. A loner who had never fit in with a team. That was precisely the reason why he did not make it as a Ranger. Kinkaid would not let himself regret that decision. He'd had to do what was right for the team, and he did.
At the time he damn well felt justified. He had given the kid a chance. Hell, because he had been asked to, by his close friend, he had given him more than one chance. But he had to draw the line somewhere. And he had.
"What did you do?" Kinkaid muttered to no one but himself.
The general stopped his pacing, he stood at the back of the cabin and he looked over the heads of his men. Taking a moment to think, he now recognized his biggest mistake. He had made the assumption that Ben Davron had been killed by the same people who had tried to publish that stupid book. How could he have been so dense? Even when the men had explored the possibility that the two factors were unrelated, he had still tried to hold on to his theory.
Now it was all too obvious. Nick Ellis never did anything small. It appeared that instead of focusing his revenge on him, the one person he still held responsible after all this time, Ellis had gone after the whole team. Kinkaid wouldn't put it past him to try to hurt as many people as he could. The chip on his shoulder was as big as a house, and he didn't care who got in his way. But he wanted to hurt them, not kill them. That would be too easy of a way out.
He probably thought that he was pretty damn smart to come up with that book idea, Kinkaid thought. It really could have done a lot of damage, and not just to the team that Ellis was targeting with him. Relationships with allies, reputations of countless military personnel, even the families of any of the men he had mentioned in those stories could all come under fire. Kinkaid knew that Ellis was shrewd, he was well aware of what the American public would say about the stories, and that they would never care that every single thing that had been written had been taken out of context.
The man was unstable. Kinkaid knew now, more than ever, that he always had been. It had been against his recommendations that another agency picked him up to use his skills, but they went ahead anyway. As predicted, it had been a disaster. Kinkaid had been in a position to hear the details that no one else was authorized to. He knew exactly why Ellis had eventually been reassigned to an office position after that final incident.
Here is where anger simmered for Kinkaid, and this anger was directed at himself. Once Ellis had been in what he considered a safe situation, working in an office, he had not followed through. He had not kept as close an eye on the man as he probably should have. All this time, behind the scenes, Nick Ellis had been free to plan and plot his revenge. And no one was looking.
That he had stopped the printing of the book had probably angered the man enough to make him up the ante on his plans for avenging himself. The fallout from that book might have been enough for him, at one time. But now Kinkaid knew that Ellis had to get his satisfaction, and he'd do it another way. He was kicking himself, whatever happened next was on him, all his fault, all because he had been to blind to see what should have been so obvious.
The team was not going to like what he had to tell them. And they were going to hate what he was going to have to do. That was just tough, Kinkaid thought, he would keep them safe, if it was the last thing he did.
. .oOo.
Nia's eyes were wet with tears. Standing in the doorway she watched the vans pull away and disappear down the dirt road. The cloud of dust obscured them enough to make it seem like it had all been a dream.
Oh, and what a dream it had been. As she touched a finger to her cheek, Nia thought about the parting kiss that Tank had given her. Holding both of her hands in his, he'd had to bend way over to deliver that kiss. So whisper soft on her skin, it could have been part of the best dream she had ever had.
Through the tears, a smile graced her lips. Tank was the most wonderful man she had ever met. She had never felt this way about anyone before. From that first moment she had seen him looking at her, there had been an enormous swell of emotions inside of her chest. She had seen something in his eyes, more than just admiration, though that had definitely been there. Nia knew that she had seen a connection in that first look, one that would keep her forever yearning for him.
It was not what she was looking for, not at this point in her life. But now that she had felt it so strongly, she knew that this connection was the one thing that she had been searching for, even if she had not known it.
Now he was gone. Their departure had been so rushed, it was not until this moment that she realized she had never even thought to ask for a phone number, an e-mail address, something, anything so that she could talk to him again.
Becoming aware of the internal war raging inside of her didn't make her feel any better about that enormous oversight. But she understood. Part of her wanted nothing more than to be with Tank again. Always. And then there was the other part that was still very wary, this was not the first time that she had been down this path.
At twenty-seven, she had had a failed relationship or two and was not looking to repeat that kind of experience again. Besides, her career was supposed to come first, that was the whole reason she was out here finishing up her field training as a ranger. It wasn't just fate that had sent her to this spot, though she had to admit that meeting Tank sure made it feel like it.
The basic fact was, the incredible reputation of Gielen and his staff of rangers, meant that if someone could make it through their internship with them, they could pretty much write their own ticket from there. They would have their pick, and would be able to work at any one of the national or state parks that they chose.
That is why she was here right now, why she had left her home to come out all the way out here. Nia was that committed, and was so grateful that it had worked out the way she needed it to. Over a month ago Gielen had helped her send an application to the place that she had chosen. Of course, that had not been until after trying to convince her that she could stay, he sure could use her skills. She appreciated the vote of confidence, but she needed to get back to New Jersey.
With his recommendation it had happened, she would be working in the one location that she had hoped for. Just last week, the confirmation of her job at the Barnegat lighthouse State Park and with the Sedge Island Wildlife Management had come in. It was the perfect set up, she would be close to home so that she could keep an eye on her mother. And she would also get to continue her love for and study of the many species of birds that made their habitats on and around the island.
"The perfect job," she heard herself whisper in a voice that was filled with disappointment rather than the joy she had once felt. Staring at the cloud of dust as it dissipated and settled back onto the road, all she could think was that if Tank came back to find her when he was done with his investigation, she would not be here. Nothing else could have made her feel worse than knowing she might never see him again.
"I've got his number," Mitch said, coming out to stand next to her. He nearly laughed when she spun around and glared at him, ready to come to the defense of the man she already missed so terribly. A smile did emerge as he took a step back and held his hands up in surrender. "His phone number," he quickly clarified. "I've got his cell phone number."
After seeing the expression on her face change from defensive mode to very interested, he let the laugh loose. "Oh, does that mean that you want it?" He was enjoying this, Nia had been all business, a very dedicated worker ever since she had arrived here months ago. He had seen her fierce drive and amazing talents, but he couldn't help but notice that she had never tried to have much of a social life. From a comment or two that she had made while they had been working together, he knew that she had been burned before, and that she didn't think she was ready for, nor was she looking for any romantic entanglements.
That made her reaction to one of Kinkaid's men, a few days ago, all the more confusing to him at first. It had been only after he had commented on it to his wife, that he finally let it sink into his head that Nia might be experiencing that wonder called 'love at first sight.'
He will never forget that discussion with Cara. He had innocently mentioned that he thought it was funny that Nia had seemed so flustered around a man she had never even met. He never would have expected her to act so self conscious, so unlike the no nonsense ranger that she had been training to be.
Cara had smiled at him, one of those mysterious smiles that always threw him off. Then she had looked off in the distance, as if she could see something that he couldn't. "I know how she feels," Cara had said softly. "She may not know it yet, but she has met the man who will change her life forever."
Then she had surprised him by coming over and wrapping her arms around his waist. Mitch hugged her, mystified and confused. Laying her head on his chest, Cara whispered, "It's a moment she will never forget," she said, tightening her arms a little bit more. "I know, because that is how I felt when I first saw you."
Mitch pulled back to be able to see her face. Her eyes sparkled, and she reached up to kiss him. "You changed everything for me," she said. He nodded, pulling her back into his arms. Yes, though he had never thought about it like that, she was right, and he felt exactly the same way.
It was easy now to see these same things in the way Nia was acting. They had become friends, and Mitch wanted her to know how great falling in love could be, how it was meant to be. He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper.
Handing it to her, he looked down the road. "And just like that, they will be back in DC in less than six hours," he said casually. He tried to hide his next smile, the one that responded to the way she snatched the paper and looked at the number. He saw the expression that lit her face when Nia noticed the area code for Trenton, New Jersey. It was priceless. Cara was going to like this part of the story.
. .oOo.
Once again, her credit cards as well as her debit cards were denied. Melissa Davron had returned home from her shopping trip empty handed and thoroughly humiliated. She was fuming as she stalked around her house looking for the contact information of the publishing company that had, up until a few weeks ago, been falling all over themselves to publish her book.
She couldn't understand why they had suddenly pulled away from the project, or why they had broken their contract with her. Her confusion over that was two fold; because not only was the book now completely finished, which is what they had been pushing for, they were the ones who had come to her to get her to write it in the first place. Why were they acting this way now?
No matter how many calls she made, she was still not finding anyone to talk to. Melissa had lost count of the number of messages she had been leaving. "Damn it," she said, ending another useless call. The two thousand dollar advance that they had given her was gone now. With a head full of steam and a gut full of dread, she wanted the next installment. It was her money, they had promised it to her she reasoned, and she wanted it now.
All of the arrangements for the book and her advances had been made through her agent. Nick had assured her that the guy was good, the best when he introduced her to Pete. But, of course Pete was also now mysteriously unavailable. This made no sense either, the man had been nearly breathing down her neck for months as she worked with Nick on the book. And again, she thought, getting disgusted about it all, he had been the one who came to her, pushing the idea with the publishers who he already had on board. Now everyone had dropped her like a hot potato. What was going on?
Finally Melissa dropped down on the couch in the front room. Leaning forward, her elbows braced on her knees and her head in her hands, she tried to think everything through. It had been a crazy year, that was for sure. And none of what had been happening had been expected, not at all.
How could she have known that Ben would up and quit his job. Melissa couldn't believe what a stupid idea that had been, and she told him so, right before she ordered him to go and get his job back. For the first time that she could remember, he had told her 'no'. And then, to add to the insanity, he had asked her to go away with him, to take a long trip, someplace that no one would ever find them. Unbelievably, he said all of this like it was a good thing.
What, was he crazy, why would she want to do that? The best part of being married to him was the job he'd just quit. And the best part of his job had been the big parties all over town that she was always invited to, ones she went to whether he was there with her or not. He was asking her to leave that all behind, and to go off to be alone with him?
She jerked her head up and snorted as she pushed herself up from the couch. "As if," she muttered, walking to the kitchen to grab her phone. She had given Ben the best years of her life, and she wasn't getting any younger. It was a good thing that she had found Nick when she did.
Ben could go off and do anything that he wanted now, she didn't care. In fact, she didn't even know where he had gone after signing the divorce papers. Once or twice she was curious, you know, just because. But now that she had Nick again, thoughts of Ben didn't come up all that often.
It had been a whirlwind of events ever since Nick had come back into her life. Melissa leaned against the counter as she let her phone speed dial him. For months, they had been inseparable. Melissa loved being the center of attention, and that was how it had been with Nick around. Every day he sat spellbound as she told the stories that she could remember from what Ben had told her.
That had actually been hard for her, she had not really listened all that closely to what Ben had said about what he had done with the team. What would she want to know any of that stuff for anyway. But this had been the idea that Nick and the agent he brought in wanted to pursue. It's not like she had ever paid much attention to any of the stories, but she went along with it because they were promising her huge bucks to do it. Melissa knew that she could never have done it on her own, amazingly, Nick seemed to be able to help her bring out the details of the stories. Like he knew what would come next. She had loved how excited he had seemed as he worked with her on the book.
The book that no one wanted anymore. Melissa slid into one of the kitchen chairs and listened to the phone that she held up to her ear. After six rings, it transferred her to his voice mail. She ended the call without leaving any messages. Nick was gone too. Like everyone else, he had left her alone, and she felt lost.
Dejectedly she got up to roam around the house again. Finally she sank down into a chair in the corner of the living room and turned on the TV. Not really paying much attention, Melissa was still feeling sorry for herself. A name she recognized was said and her head jerked up so that she could see the screen. "The body of Ben Davron has been recovered," the news reporter said. She would not have believed that it was Ben except that it was his picture displayed there.
Now she was numb. Ben was dead and it left her with a sick feeling inside. Her hand reached for the remote and turned off the TV. She sat there unable to move, not wanting to think. Just when everything seemed to be going so well, her whole world had started to fall completely apart.
. .oOo.