Ranger didn't say anything as he parked the SUV in the garage and then led Tank, Stephanie, and Lula into the building that was connected to it. He swiped his card here and there at different intervals. Then he swiped it one last time for a room which they entered. At the end of the room stood a woman, her brown hair laid straight just past her shoulders. The grey dress suit looked as if it was cut and made for her body only.
"Bella, I see you've made it from Italy. How was the plane ride?" Ranger asked.
She turned and Ranger could see the smile that lit her well tanned faced all the way to her deep brown eyes. "It was lovely." She said in a thick Florentine accent. "But, I am so glad to be back on home soil. How ever am I going to repay you?"
"Who is she?" Lula asked.
Ranger looked at Lula, "This is Agent Bella Monique di Betto Bardi. She's been in Florence, Italy for the last six years living in the Shiropolli household undercover."
Stephanie pulled on Ranger's arm and he turned to her. "What Babe?"
"Exactly what do you do with the FBI, Ranger? How do you even know her?" Stephanie asked.
Ranger could see Stephanie was biting back even more questions. "Babe, I can't tell you what I do for the FBI. I've known Bella all my life."
Bella walked around the conference table that was in the middle of the room. "You don't need to worry about me." She said as she came closer to the group. "I owe Carlos for helping me retire out of the FBI early. I loved Florence, but living away from home was hard. My family is here."
"Babe, Bella is my mother's god daughter. Her mother and my mother went to school together. Bella is like a sister to me." Ranger told her. "She hasn't been able to contact very many people while she's been undercover in Italy. Her contact placed a call to me and told me she wanted to come home."
Stephanie was looking from one to the other. Ranger could see her trying to take all of this in. "I thought you said we were going to be debriefed today. Is she doing the debriefing?"
Ranger laughed. "Hardly. No. Tank and I will be debriefing you and Lula. At the same time, Bella will also be debriefed. I have to record everything for the record. We shouldn't be here for no more than an hour or so. Then Bella will be given a place to stay at RangeMan for the next six months to a year, while RangeMan helps her assimilate back into our society."
Stephanie answered the questions that Ranger and Tank had given her along with Lula. They were both now sitting in chairs outside of the room waiting on Ranger and Tank to finish up with Bella. Stephanie twisted around in her seat; she was ready to leave.
"Wonder why she has to live with Ranger and my man? I don't think this assimilating thing sounds right." Lula said.
"Are you jealous?" Stephanie asked Lula. At least I'm not the only one. She's exotic with that accent. And Ranger calls her by her first name, he said she was like a sister to him, so that makes things a little better. Stephanie thought.
Lula huffed, "No! What do I have to be jealous for? It's you who should really worry. Tank is my man, and we've been talking about getting a place together. I don't see Ranger and you talking about getting a place together."
"It's only for a short time and she'll be staying at RangeMan. It's not like she's going to be staying in Ranger's apartment." Stephanie looked at Lula, "She wouldn't, would she?"
"Girl! He said she was practically like a sister to him. I've known several god siblings to get together and stay together. If I was you, I'd be moving out of that cardboard box that anyone can break into and move in with Ranger. I've got a mind of moving in with Tank. I didn't like the way she was looking at him, but I'm not jealous, not jealous at all. I satisfy my man, I know how to do those things and do them good." Lula said.
Ranger wouldn't move her into his apartment? She's like a sister to him, that's what he said. But would he let his sister stay with him? He does have a spare room, and no one is staying in it. I could go home and get Rex and move Rex into the spare room. He'd have like his own little hamster room at Ranger's apartment. Then I could stay with Ranger and she wouldn't be in the spare bedroom. Stephanie thought. The door next to them opened up and Ranger and Tank walked out.
"Do we get to leave now?" Stephanie asked.
Ranger said, "Yeah, Babe. As soon as Bella gets her bag. We are taking her back with us."
"Where is she staying at RangeMan?" Stephanie asked.
"Alex is in the last spare room I have at the moment. So she'll be staying in my spare bedroom at least for the rest of the week. Why?" Ranger reached for her hand and pulled her to him and then whispered into her ear. "Are you jealous?"
Lester walked back down the hall towards the small apartment that Alex was staying in. He knocked on the door, when she didn't answer he opened it up. They had been back from seeing Dr. Hyde for about thirty minutes now and he laid Alex on the bed to finish sleeping off the drug Dr. Hyde gave her. But, her lawyer called and now it was time for her to go get her DNA pulled. Bobby was on the phone with Jacobs trying to reschedule the optometrist appointment now to in the morning. Today would have been good, but the DNA test had to come first. Lester walked around the couch and then through the bedroom door that was left open and stopped short of the bed. Alex was still sleeping, but not on her back like he had left her, and she had rolled over onto her stomach. Her hair wasn't in the tight ponytail he was used to seeing. The more he looked at her, the angrier he was becoming. Her hair was now ringlets of curls that touched just past her shoulders.
Two feet, she's missing at least two feet of hair off her head. I loved how long her hair had been, not that she doesn't look bad like this either, but the time it took to grow it that long. Lester thought. He turned and stalked out of the bedroom. She's not awake. Someone came in and did this. Damn! Alex please don't hate me, I didn't know this was going to happen? She's going to be so damn fucking pissed.
Lester shut the door to her room, Bobby walked up.
"She has an appointment tomorrow afternoon. Couldn't get it for the morning." Bobby said. "What's wrong?"
Lester glared and moved around Bobby. "Stay by her door and don't let anyone in there."
"Lester what is it?" Bobby asked. "Did something happen to Alex?"
"Yes. Don't let anyone in her room. I have to check the tapes in the control room." Lester told him as he stalked to the stairwell door and then took the stairs to the floor he needed. Lester barged into the control room.
"Zero, I need the tape to the fourth floor run over again right now within the last thirty minutes." Lester growled out.
Lester watched as Zero pressed the rewind button for the fourth floor. He watched the people walking backwards and saw when Alex's door was opened and closed then opened and closed yet again.
"Stop. Go forward at normal speed." Lester told him.
Lester ground his teeth at the figure punching the pass code on the key pad panel beside the door to Alex's room. He watched him go in stay for five minutes then walk back out. Lester's chest was heaving, his jaw ground back and forth as his fists clenched opened and closed.
"That's all I needed." Lester told Zero and then stepped out of the control room.
I'm going to kill him. He is so dead, so fucking dead. He messed up one too many times, Lester thought. Lester went back to the fourth floor and saw Bobby leaning against Alex's door.
"Well?" Bobby asked.
"I'm going to kill him." Lester growled out. He took the receiver off his wrist and handed it to Bobby. "Take her to get her DNA checked." Lester pulled out the paper that was in his pocket with the directions and handed it to Bobby. "Hal has messed up for the last time. I'm going to kill him."
"What did he do?" Bobby asked and looked to the door he was leaning on. "Did he do something stupid because she broke his nose? What exactly did he do?"
"She's not going to be happy when she wakes up. He cut off two feet of her hair. It doesn't look bad, but the years it took to grow it that length." Lester growled out. "I'm too angry to take her to get the DNA test done."
Bobby looked back at the door. "Okay, I'll take her, but if she hurts me, because of something Hal did." Bobby shook his head. "Never mind, I'll deal with her."
Lester left Bobby as he went into the room with Alex. Lester went down into the garage and looked to see if any of the SUVs were gone and noticed only one. He walked across the street and into another underground parking area and got inside his personal vehicle and then called the control room and got a lead on where Hal was. As soon as he knew where he was, Lester pulled out of the parking garage in his black 65' Sting Ray Coupe. He dialed Ranger.
"Yo." Ranger answered.
"You better pray you find Hal before I do. I'm going to murder his ass this time." Lester said and hung up his phone and turned it off.
Joe sat in his SUV behind the cars in traffic. He shook his head at seeing the lights for the last two blocks had lost power. He turned his wrist and looked at his watch, he was going to be late for the testing. Joe inched forward along with the rest of the populace in Trenton. His aggravation growing.
I don't have time for this. Think of something else. Wilson worked for the offsite storage facility during the years before Alex was born and after she was born. He moved the files around creating havoc for hiding records. Nick said Wilson had a devil woman named Vicky and a baby that wasn't his. Black curly mop of hair. Alex has black hair. Could Alex be the baby that Nick had seen? Very good possibility. Joe thought as he inched forward till he came to the busted light. He could see that one of the police officers had arrived and was now directing traffic. Joe pulled out when it was his turn and went forward again. The traffic was thinning out now.
Alex. Alex has to be the connection? Or is someone else the connection? What if Alex is just the product? Vicky? Vicky who? Alex's mother. Shit I'm stupid. Victoria Lacey Ramono. Wilson was seeing the woman who claims to be Alex's mother. Wilson had to have signed my name. Wilson, I need to find out who this person is. Joe thought.
His phone rang and he checked the readout before he answered it. "What do you have for me Kirkpatrick?"
"The handwriting is in the system. But," Joe heard the long pause.
"But what?" Joe growled out.
"I'm denied access. Confidential. Access denied, denied, denied. I've tried everything. Even called an expert in the FBI for a favor, he can usually tap into these things. His access is denied."
Joe hit the steering wheel. "That is not what I wanted to hear." He growled out. "Thanks for trying." Joe hung up as he pulled into the hospital parking lot.
Seeing the empty black SUV that he knew was one of Ranger's he pulled up beside it and was about to park when he saw Bobby flying past the front of the SUV into his spot. Joe hit the brakes. His heart skipped in his chest. He breathed out a sigh when he saw Bobby stand as he glared in front of the SUV at someone. Joe glanced over at the person and clutched the steering wheel.
Sarah! No that can't be Sarah, Sarah is dead. Sarah's hair isn't black, Sarah had light brown hair. Joe thought. He fumbled with the gear shift as he saw Bobby going back towards her. Joe blinked and shook his head, his stomach started rolling, and he could feel a knot as it lodged in his throat. His heart started pounding in his chest and he felt the drum beats in his ears. Then he saw her collapse on the ground as she dug into her left calf. Joe put the SUV in park and opened his door. The scream filled his ears.
"What the hell Brown?" Joe asked as he ran around his door and the SUV and knelt down beside her. "Turn the damn thing off."
Alex stopped screaming, and Joe picked up her left leg. He rubbed the muscles and glared at Bobby.
"Alex had a fit when she saw her hair and woke up from the sleeping drugs Dr. Hyde gave her. I was trying to get her to calm down. I didn't know she was going to kick me into oblivion where I'd almost be road kill." Bobby stated.
Joe looked back down at Alex. She looks so much like Sarah. Why didn't I see this before? Her hair was straight with it that long. Alex has to be Sarah's child. Joe thought.
"Who cut her hair?" He asked as he kept rubbing her leg, he could see the tears rolling out of her eyes.
"Fucking Hal did it. I broke his nose then he cut my hair. We were only supposed to be sparring, not kicking me in the ribs like he did." Alex got out between sobs.
Joe looked up at Bobby. "Are her ribs broke?"
"No. Just bruised. Lester went to go take care of Hal." Bobby told him.
Joe looked back down at Alex. He moved his right hand and wiped the tears off of her cheeks. "Do you think you can stand up now?" Joe looked over her face, her nose was like Sarah's, her eyes, and her lips as well. Joe took her hand when she nodded and stood up and pulled her up with him.
She is Sarah's. I can see it. If? Joe thought then he closed his eyes and opened them. He moved his hand under her chin and tilted her face up so he could look into her eyes better. If she is Sarah's? The knot came back into his throat as he kept looking at her. He saw her look down and then step away.
"Thank you," Alex said and stepped around Joe.
Alex moved around a car to put space between Bobby and herself. She glanced back at Joe who now was following her slowly still looking at her with that intent look. He knows something? Why does he keep looking at me like that? Like I'm someone else that he hasn't seen in long time. Alex thought.
She stopped and looked back at him. "What? It's my hair isn't it?"
"No." Joe said.
"Then what? If it isn't my hair, then who do I remind you of?" Alex asked as she crossed her hands in front of her chest.
Joe walked up to her and tilted her face to look back up to his. "Your mother. I need to find the rest of your birth certificate. If she is on your real birth certificate then…."
What is he not saying? Alex thought. "Then what?"
She felt his thumb rub across her chin. "Then I'm your father."