. .oOo.

Chapter 13

Nick sat outside of Melissa's house. He could see her shadowy form moving from room to room. Two weeks ago, they had both been on top of the world. They had been so happy. Nick squeezed his eyes closed at that thought. The word happy may have had a different meaning for him than it had for Melissa. She was happy, for her that meant money. With thousands of dollars, as an advance for her book, from the publishing company, and the promise of so much more to come, she was certainly happy.

For him, happy meant that he was one step closer to bringing down the people he saw as responsible for him being unhappy for so long. The book would have brought a whole bunch of hurt for them and that was going to make him very happy. But that had all ended a few days ago when the printing of the book was abruptly terminated.

Neither one of them had taken that news very well, and Nick knew that Melissa had been devastated. Still he sat, unable or unwilling to make the effort to go and talk to her. He had not spoken to her since hearing about the publishers decision. She was probably mad at him. That was one really good reason to stay away from her. He hated it when she got all pissed off. She was mean, said mean things. Chef had loved her. Most of the time, lately, Nick couldn't figure out why.

It had driven him crazy for so long. He had seen her first, it was a fact, the truth. She was meant to be with him. That had been his plan. Nick always had big plans. That was what he did, he made plans and then other people ruined them. Chef had ruined his plans for Melissa. For years he had hated him for that.

The pressure in his chest expanded, thoughts like this always made him feel this way. Nick tried to take a deep breath, tried to push the pain out, but he couldn't, and panic started to set in. Resting his head on the steering wheel, he concentrated on the short, shallow breaths that he used to calm himself down at times like these.

Once he could think again, Nick started the car and pulled away from the curb. Any thoughts of Melissa were gone. She was no longer part of his plans, and one day he would wonder how that had happened so quickly. For so long he had been obsessed with her, had wanted her. He had followed her, from a distance, living in the same city made that easy enough to do.

Fate had intervened one day, bringing her back into his life in a way that he could not ignore. After the injury that he had received during his last mission, Nick had been taken off of the active list. The general had arranged a position for him in the benefits office. In an office. He was supposed to be grateful about that. It had nearly killed him, confined by four walls day after day, dealing with piles of paper that never seemed to end.

Then it happened, the miracle that he had wished for. A file, with a name he recognized, ended up on his desk. The request to remove the ex-wife from the health and life insurance policies of Ben Davron was just the thing to put Melissa right in the middle of some new plans.

Nick had pulled the file and started working on it. There was always so much paperwork. Form after form was copied, filed and sent through to the proper channels. After everything was done, Nick had made a copy of completed file for himself and started working on his plan.

Nearly a year ago now, another trip out to a familiar neighborhood had confirmed what Nick had already known. He had spent enough time outside of the Davron house to know that Ben was gone, and seeing that it was true sent his emotions soaring. His plan was in motion and he nearly flew up to the door, taking the front steps in one huge jump.

Much to his delight, Melissa recognized him. In fact, she threw her arms around his neck and invited him to come in so that they could visit, catch up with each other. The rest was so easy after that. It never occurred to him that he was getting Melissa was on the re-bound after ending her relationship with Ben. Or that she was trying to find someone to replace him as quickly as possible. It wouldn't have mattered, Nick wanted her, had always wanted her, and now he had a plan for her.

He had a plan for Ben too. Nick had hated him for so long. Ben had not only taken Melissa away from him, he had also taken his place on the Ranger team after Nick had been dropped from the program. Yes, Ben was a good place to start, but his ultimate revenge would include all of them. From the general who was supposed to have secured his place on the team, to each of the men who had ended up on it.

It had been years since all of that had happened. Nick was a patient man when it came to finding the perfect revenge. He had filled his mind with it day after day. Waiting for just the right way to carry it out. He knew it had all worked out like it was supposed to when he had first seen Ben's file.

The file that he had so carefully saved was brought out after what Nick determined was a safe lapse of time. He easily reinstated the benefits for Melissa. He had promised her that he would. For him, it was just a good way to win her favor and lead her into the next phase of his plan. He probably didn't even need to do it, but it seemed like such a nice touch. And his plans always had a certain amount of panache.

With the health insurance file, Nick had also sent in the paperwork for an insurance policy. This, however, he would not be telling Melissa about. One day, the beneficiary of this policy would receive a huge chunk of change. Since it was his job to, Nick knew all of the forms that were needed to have a power of attorney included. That it just so happened that he would hold that power was his own little secret. Melissa would never think to ask about that. She would never even need to know about the policy. Nick just loved to have some special perks imbedded into all of his plans.

With his hands deliberately placed on the steering wheel, in the 9 and 12 positions, Nick started to put a lot of distance between him and the woman he had loved for so long. He may have forgotten Melissa, but his focus on the Ranger team, that had been stolen away from him, was foremost in his mind. He was still smarting from the shock and humiliation of the publisher telling him that they were no longer interested in the book he had worked so hard on. When he had pushed, and he had pushed hard, for them to give him a valid reason for dropping the project, they had told him outright.

National security reasons were what prohibited them from publishing the book. What they had hoped could be some nice healthy controversy, that would sell the book, turned out to be a lot of intel that could not be divulged. There was nothing that they could do to change that. Nothing that he could do either.

His plan had been so perfect. But now with Ben being gone for so long, and the book taken away from him, he was going to have to find another way, a new plan to make them all feel the pain that he had. In his mind it was only fair. Now he had to think.

"Let's start with the general," Nick said out loud. His mind took him back to the days before the rangers training was to begin. General Kinkaid was 'Uncle Doug' to Nick at that time. An old friend of his father's who had served in the military with him. More than friends, they had always said. Brothers. And so it seemed to Nick and his sister. Nick had looked up to his 'Uncle' so much he had wanted to be just like him. That was the reason that he had joined the army right out of high school.

Back then Nick had wanted nothing more than to make his father happy, proud. And that, it seemed, could only be accomplished by joining the army. He had thrown himself into it, being the best of the best. But his father was so hard to please. So too, was Uncle Doug.

When Nick decided that he would go after a spot in the Army Rangers, he was sure that he would please them. And he did, for a while. When talking to his recruiter, he specifically asked for an option 40 contract, to let them all know that it was his goal to join the 75th Ranger Regiment. He worked hard, and immediately chose and developed his military occupational specialty, becoming an ammunition specialist.

Oh, and they had been so proud, his father and the general. Up until they weren't. When he started ranger school, they were full of smiles and pats on the back for him. Then one day, halfway through the training, everything seemed to change. Good ol Kinkaid came to talk to him, bawled him out, asked him if he still wanted to be a ranger. Told him to control his temper. Nick was baffled, he was working hard, training was damn hard, but he didn't think that he was anymore apt to get angry than any of the other guys.

When the general came again, to have another little talk, Nick had been upset. Again he tried to explain that he was fine, that he was not any different that anyone else going through that intense training.

Of course, now he could admit that some of that time was a blur in his mind, but what Nick remembered was that suddenly he was out. It was over, and they assigned him somewhere else. His father, his 'uncle' were disappointed. He knew they were. Well, to hell with them, he had thought, so was he. Disappointed and confused. He was no different than anyone else, he kept saying that to himself. No different.

The night he had left, he avoided both of them. He had nothing to say to the two men who he had been counting on to help him with his plan. They had always been there for him. Why had they let him down now? Nick took off and found a bar to hide away in. He had intended to get drunk enough to forget it all. But before he had had more than two drinks, Nick had seen her.

Melissa had walked through the door. Knowing that all of the guys there had seen her too, Nick wasted no time in moving over to her. She accepted his invitation to have a drink with him, and they had spent the rest of the evening together.

By the time he said goodbye to Melissa Price that night, Nick had made a new plan. For a while he forgot about his humiliation of being thrown out of the rangers training. All he could think of was Melissa. She wanted a good life and she had not been shy to tell him so. Well, he was fine with that, and ready to give it to her.

Of course that meant that he had to take a new look at his career. Being in the military was not enough, and besides, Nick was angry at his father, at the general. He dropped the army and searched out another way to use his skills. And he found it, with an unknown agency who was willing to pay well for the specialized work that they needed done. Covert ops, it was the perfect thing. He left immediately on his first assignment.

It had been a long eight months before he got back. By the time he found Melissa again, she was married to Ben Davron. Hatred for Ben started on that day. Adding on to it, Nick hated everyone of the men who had been in that training group. He hated his father and he hated General Douglas Kinkaid.

It was easy to change his plan again. This time to find a way to hit them where it would hurt the most. Nick was a patient man. He gave a lot of thought to this. Between the missions that he was sent on, he tried to come up with the perfect idea. And then he got hurt. Plans had to change again. He could wait.

"Now," Nick said, again out loud. "Time to pay Uncle Doug a visit." He started laughing. The office job, that he had hated so much, had turned out to be the best thing ever. With access to very personal files, Nick had been able to find the information he needed to keep track of the general, of the guys in the team. All his patience had paid off.

He knew where they had gone, and with a few inquiries, he knew that they were on their way back. He would be ready for them. It was all going according to plan, and he had everything he needed in the trunk of his car.

. .oOo.

The Philidelphia airport had been able to accommodate the change in flight plans when Kinkaid decided that their destination needed to be Ranger's place. He was silent as they started the short drive toward RangeMan. He was nervous, not knowing what Nick could be capable of now that his big plans had been disrupted. Nick was a sick man, they had tried to get him the help he needed, but not even the meds they had prescribed for him could change the fact that he had severe problems.

Ranger looked at him and he knew that it had been hard on him to admit to the team that he had made a mistake. But as he saw it, the general had done what he thought best, with the information that he'd had at the time. He had truly cared about Nick.

Nick Ellis had been a good kid, and Kinkaid had known him for most of his life. It had been flattering to see that he wanted to follow in his footsteps, to be one of the best of the best. How could he not be proud? By the time the symptoms became obvious, Nick had convinced everyone that he could handle it.

It was called a borderline personality disorder. But no one wanted to say that out loud. Medication took care of it, that was what they were told. And it did. Most of the time. However, under great amounts of stress, all bets were off. Nobody could predict how the hormone imbalance would affect him. Most of the time it manifested itself in angry outbursts. Unpleasant, but not particularly problematic, so they still believed that he would be fine.

If he would just take the medications, he would be okay. They had believed that. Kinkaid came to talk to him about it several times during the ranger training. While there was nothing wrong with needing medications, Nick's dad, with Kinkaid's support, wanted to keep it secret.

Maybe that had been too hard on Nick. The very thing he needed the meds for could have been what made him not want to take them. Kinkaid admitted today that his first mistake was thinking that it was not as dangerous as it was. His next mistake made Nick hate him, and that had been the hardest thing to admit to his men today.

When he took Nick out of the program, he sighted medical reasons, but he did not specify that he had been dealing with a mental disorder. It had been to protect Nick, to protect his father. And so the information never went on Nick's permanent record. Without that information, Nick remained eligible for other teams, other opportunities that would end up damaging him further. Somehow, Kinkaid knew that it was a no win situation as far as Nick was concerned. If he told, Nick would hate him for destroying his chances at a military career. But by saying nothing, Nick was holding it against him that he had gone on to get hurt because he did get to have the career he wanted. No, he couldn't win.

Kinkaid had had to live with this guilt for such a long time. Ranger could see that it had taken so much out of him to finally let the secret out. As soon as they got to RangeMan, he intended to enlist Ella's help to get the general to a place where he could rest.

But first they would have some items of business to take care of. The safety of his team was on the top of that list. Ranger was going through all the things he needed to do when they got back. He turned and leaned over to say something to Tank when he felt it.

He looked around, by the looks on their faces, the other men had felt it too. It was getting dark now, so it was hard to see if there was something happening in the other van too. Ranger got his phone out and called over to Chandler. He had been a demolitions expert, and Ranger needed his take on this.

"IED," Chandler said when he answered. "Small ones, someone has booby trapped the area."

Ranger nodded, they were almost a block away from his building. And someone was waiting for them. The next call that went out, was to Cal. Another blast rocked the van this time, and Ranger almost dropped his phone.

"Ranger?" he heard Cal say as he got the phone back up to his ear.

"We need a team to come find the booby traps on Parker Ave between Tenth and Hawthorne. We are under attack."

"Can you stay where you are?" Cal asked as he motioned to Lester and Woody.

"Negative," Ranger replied. "We will chance it to the corner and turn there. But we've got to get these things off the street." After just a small hesitation, he added, "Oh, and we need to find the guy doing this."

"Ellis," they both said at the same time. He was here, and they knew it.

. .oOo.