. .oOo.
Chapter 17
Nick Ellis had his rifle aimed at the broad chest of one of the people he had been hating for so long. A rush, a thrill ran through his body, he had dreamed of a moment like this! For so long, he had wanted to know what it would be like, having this power over the mighty Manoso.
He almost closed his eyes to enjoy the moment, but he didn't. His eyes were staring into Ranger's and he knew the first one to blink would lose. No, this was not a game, this was the first real thing that had ever happened to him in years. Not since his days in the agency had he felt this surge of adrenaline, and the raw energy that came with it.
His eyes narrowed and Ellis tried to look as fierce as he felt. This was the showdown, the one he had been craving from the minute he had been hidden away in the office. Kinkaid may have thought that he was doing him a favor by getting him a nice cushy job, but in reality, Nick felt like he had been slowly dying there.
This, this is what was real, confronting what had been causing pain in his life for so long. The anger he felt was coming to the boiling point again. Nick could feel the the pressure of his finger on the trigger. Ranger was not such a tough guy while he was looking down the barrel of a gun. He would learn not to mess with Nick Ellis.
Oh yes, this is what if felt like to be alive. Energy, pulsing through his body like an electrical currant, ignited each cell in his body with heat. Power. Manoso would be first, then he would find the general, Nick knew he was here somewhere. He could take out a few more guys along the way too, it would go a long way in his quest for revenge. But first, Ranger.
The two men stood tall, facing off. Ellis, believing that he was in control, allowed a cynical smile. He stepped closer. An attempt to intimidate his enemy, but Ranger did not even so much as flinch. Begrudgingly, Ellis was impressed. Not everyone could act so cool with his death so imminent. He would be benevolent, as it was his power to be, and would make the kill quick and clean. That would be his homage to the man, the warrior.
Nick felt the throbbing in his trigger finger now, itching to do it. To pull the trigger, feel his satisfaction. He filled his lungs with air, puffing out his chest. The alpha male, dominant, Omnipotent. He was enjoying every second of this.
. .oOo.
The car sped through the streets of DC. Sarah couldn't believe what was happening. The street lights brightly flashed as they passed under one after another, intermittently illuminating the strong features of the man driving. He did not speak again. And they rode in silence, both wondering what was going to happen next.
With her arms behind her back, the ride was not nearly as comfortable as it could have been. But it served to remind her that things were not always what they seemed. On the seat beside her, Sarah saw her bag and the ID tag she would have used to go to work tonight. They had been gathered up after he had taken her down. She imagined that there had been no evidence left behind that could show that she had even been there.
He seemed to be very thorough. The whole arrest scene, getting handcuffed, it had all served to give show that he was in authority. If they had been seen, no questions would have been asked. Now Sarah couldn't help but wonder what his plans were from here. No words were spoken, not by him, and certainly not by her. It felt familiar, like all of those times that she'd met with Vasya to exchange the information she'd collected. He had had strict rules about that too.
So it continued until they arrived at their destination. As the car stopped, Sarah swung her head around trying to see where they were, if she recognized any landmarks near by. All she could see in the dark was the grouping of tall trees outlined by the golden glow of the street light.
Funny that she had not been paying attention to where they were at all. It was exactly what someone would do if they felt that their lives had been threatened. That she only remembered to try it now must have been the best indication that being threatened was the last thing that she was feeling right now.
Patiently she waited. She watched as the door was opened. He helped her out, turning her so that he could free her hands. And suddenly she was pulled into the arms of the man she had been missing so badly.
"Vasya," she whispered as her arms circled around him. She felt like she would never let go of him ever again. Tears of joy, not fear anymore, dripped down her cheeks. There had been moments lately that her tears had been of sorrow, thinking that the man she loved was dead. But now he was here, in her arms, holding her. It was right, and so good. Vasya was here.
Why was he here? Sarah suddenly pulled back to look into his face. He was here, after being dead. There were so many questions, and he saw them in her eyes.
"Shhhh," he said again, a smile playing on his lips. "I'll tell you everything," he said. "But not here."
With an urgency that had not existed a moment ago, he grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him into the grove of trees. Like fugitives, they moved quickly under the branches. In a small clearing, a motorcycle waited for them.
"Vasya?" Sarah whispered. Those questions raising up again.
"Zurie," he said, turning to her, his face perfectly serious. His hand gently cradled her cheek. "My name is Zurie."
Sarah leaned her head into his hand, looking into his eyes. Some of the questions were working themselves out. Vasya had been a person that he had been pretending to be.
"Zurie," she smiled as she tried out the name, liking how it felt on her lips. "Zurie," she said it again and he closed his eyes. He loved how it sounded when she said it. Loved that she could call him by his own name now.
They embraced again, Zurie reluctantly letting her go. It was like he had waited a lifetime to feel this way, but they had to get moving, so he kissed her cheek and stepped back.
Sarah watched as he reached for the bag sitting on the ground next to the motorcycle. Setting it on the seat, Zurie opened the bag and pulled out two bundles, handing one of them to her. She opened it to find an easy, but effective disguise, and in minutes both of them were completely transformed.
Zurie pulled out a packet with their new identities. Drivers licenses with amazingly real photos of their disguised selves naming her Emily Taylor, and him David Taylor. Married. She looked up at him and smiled, the thought brought such warmth to her heart. Passports and money were also in the packet with airline tickets that she tucked into the backpack that he handed her. They were going to Europe.
. .oOo.
Ranger held Nick's gaze, this was a showdown, of sorts, between the men. Ellis, he knew, was trying to feel dominant, powerful. Ranger could see it in his eyes. They had that half crazed look that so many of the psychopaths he'd seen always had. And that would be his downfall.
Ellis held the gun steady, he had been a pretty good marksman years ago when Ranger had known him. But that was not what Ranger was thinking about. Ellis had done enough damage tonight, and he was determined to stop him.
A distraction was what they had needed to carry out his plan. And Ranger was that distraction. Ellis was giving him all of his attention, smugly gloating in his small victory. Ranger kept his blank face in place, not reacting to Nick at all, he knew it would serve to further unnerve him. And there it was, Nick started to scowl, a squint of his eyes was the first indication that it was working. He was still so very predictable. Ranger never wavered, keeping Nick's eyes on him was his goal.
Slowly Ranger took a deep breath, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He was nervous, but he would never let Ellis know that. He couldn't, Nick would never understand, he lacked the ability to care about another human being.
Ranger stared at him, this was quite disturbing. Standing there, with the gun pointing at the heart that belonged to Stephanie, brought into focus all of the reasons that he never wanted to put himself in this kind of situation ever again.
It served to just emphasize the reasons why he had told the general, weeks ago, that he was done. No more contracts. Stephanie. He needed to be with her. That was the only thing he wanted right now. And that was what he was willing to fight for. Ranger heard a footfall off to his left. He was pretty sure that the men were in place. It would not be long now.
.oOo.
Stephanie was immediately on her feet. Her hands were still covering part of her face as her eyes remained glued to the monitor. She could see Ranger now. The angle was not very good, and the haze from the smoke didn't help either, but there was no mistaking who was standing there with the point of a gun aiming at his heart.
Her emotions were rising and she was finding it hard to breathe and difficult to swallow. Once again everything seemed to be in slow motion, drawing out the terror that each moment held. Though she was not aware of it, she had been making strangled noises, softly muffled behind her hands. Nothing had ever made her feel more helpless than seeing him there and knowing that there was nothing that she could do.
There wasn't time, or she would be running across the street to throw herself in front of that gun, willingly taking the bullet if it would keep the man she loved safe. She did not want to see this, but she would not turn her eyes away. It was a good thing that they had no audio with this feed. Not that she would have been able to hear any thing but the pounding of her heart anyway.
Stephanie continued to stare, unaware of the fact that her body was trembling. Her only focus was on Ranger. But the others in the room had noticed. They had been worried about her since the moment that Ranger and the team had left, but now they knew that someone had to do something for her.
It was Hector that stepped up and grabbed Stephanie's hand. He knew that she felt things deeply, Stephanie never did anything half way. And now the depth of her emotions threatened to swallow her in and drag her under. He knew that he needed to guide her back to a place where she could breathe and start to think again.
"What do you feel in your heart?" he asked her, as he gently pulled her to sit in a chair. Stephanie finally looked up at her very good friend. His simple words got through to her. It was then that she realized that he was right. That connection, that tingle had always told her that he was near. What was it telling her now? Suddenly she knew that he was okay, she felt tingling stronger than ever and that could only mean that he was not only alive but that he was going to be okay. She had found the ability to believe that again. Stephanie squeezed Hector's hand.
Now that she was tuned to him, she could also feel his strength, and his loyalty. Ranger had not stepped into harms way without a very good reason. He had a plan and even if she could not imagine what it was, she knew that he would do everything he could to make things right. And that meant getting back to her.
"Thank you Hector, "she said. She had needed that simple reminder.
. .oOo.
With slow steady footsteps, the men moved from their position on the stairs to go around the back side of the stairwell. Circling around, they had Ellis in their sights. Guns out, they crouched down to remain hidden in the smokey shadows. Slowly and steadily they kept moving toward him. It was dark, yes. And hazy. But it puzzled them to see that he did not seem to know that they were there.
Ranger was doing his job, keeping Nick's eyes on him. They could see that. But as good as they were, in stealth mode, four men moving along a gravel covered rooftop had to have been making enough noise for Ellis to hear them. But if he did, he gave no indication.
Still they moved along, getting closer and into place. All of a sudden, Ellis broke into a maniacal laughter,b surprising them all. They froze in place. He threw his head back and really laughed it up. They were sure that he knew that were there, that he had only been pretending not to notice, but still he just laughed and taunted Ranger who was still standing motionless with the gun now jammed up against his chest.
Despite the laughter, this situation was as serious as it could get. Ellis was a crazy man. There was no way to predict what he would do next, but when they heard him cock the gun, they had a pretty good idea of what he had in mind.
The slightest movement of Ranger's head gave them permission to proceed.
"Give it up Ellis," Ranger said, the first words he had spoken to the man since this had all started. His voice was low, but loud and menacing. "Put the gun down," Ranger told him. "This is your only warning."
Nick was getting angry, Ranger could feel the trembling of rage through the muzzle of the gun. He knew that he was pushing him, maybe too far, with the condition that Ellis was in. But this had to end. The plan was to catch him off guard, and that time was now. Nick was glaring at him, and it was obvious that he had still not noticed that the men surrounding him.
"No!" Ellis screamed at him, lunging forward and pushing Ranger back. "You die now!" That was all that was needed to set every man on the roof in motion.
Ranger back handed the rifle, just as Ellis pulled the trigger. The gun clattered down on the ground the shot ringing in their ears. Nick grabbed another gun from his belt, but before he could take aim, he was tackled from behind. In his madness, Ellis started firing randomly, pointing his gun everywhere. He was frantic, where had all these men come from? But there was no way he was going down without all the fight he had left in him.
Unexpectedly he spun around kicking someone in the leg, bringing them down hard. Then he was up on one knee pointing his gun at another one of the other guys. Ranger tackled him just as the shot got off. Ellis was crazed with indignation. He fought, kicking out, punching with one hand, pointing his gun with the other. He kept shooting, until all of the bullets were spent.
This was not supposed to happen, he thought frantically. He had not been prepared for this. Where did everyone come from? But he would not be defeated like this, not when there was breath left in his body. The odds were against him, but he was not going to let that stop him, not this time. With strength from his rage and fury, Nick Ellis jumped up and let out a blood curdling yell. He lunged at the first person that he saw, Ranger. They went down hard, Nick fighting with everything he had.
The moment the knife was visible in his hands, however, it was over. Two of the guys jumped on him, trying to subdue him and to get the knife. Like a wild animal, Ellis lashed out one more time.
It would be the last.
. .oOo.