Thanks for sticking around, even if my posts have slowed down. The first four stories of this series were finished before I posted them. When I wrote them, I lost interest 1/2 way through this one so now I have to write new content. I'm going slower so I can ensure that I don't make too many mistakes or paint myself into the proverbial corner.

More encouragement is always welcome! Enjoy.

George's POV

What do I do now? My biggest concern is knowing who to trust. This is not a military issue even though it involves military personnel, but I might want to talk to somebody from the Judge Advocate General's office. I will look to see who my contact was the last time I worked with them and if they're still active. I made a note of my thoughts and looked around the room where I was sitting.

We arrived at a safe house in the outskirts of Baltimore. Once inside, the guys divided into groups so some could go on watch and others could take a break. I watched as Lester led Fiona up to a room so she could get some rest. I also watched Ram drag Ranger into the kitchen so he could clean and bandage his hands. When they were done, Ranger left Woody and Hal to keep watch while the rest of the men took a 4 hour rest break. Ram and Vince would relieve the watch in 4 hours and I would meet with Ranger, Lester and Fiona.

I decided to make a few notes about my thoughts. I flagged a few people I needed to call, but it wasn't safe to call from here at this point in time, so I just marked it down to follow up on later. My list of questions was getting longer and longer.

Who had the General hired to arrest Ranger and Fiona. Were they actually military? How did the General react when he heard that the building Ranger was in had exploded? Does he know that nobody was inside at the time? Would he contact any of Ranger's family? If so, we needed to beat him to it. I made a note to get a secure phone as a priority.

After I filled three whole pages with questions, I decided to take a nap. I knew I wouldn't have much of a chance once we got underway, so I needed to take advantage of this small opportunity while it lasted. I lay down on the sofa and was asleep moments later.

Normally I'm a light sleeper, but today I must have been extra exhausted because I didn't wake up until Ranger shook my shoulder. He looked down at me with a blank face and said, "Dinner is ready if you want something to eat. I don't' suggest waiting too long or there will be none left. We couldn't risk ordering in so Ram volunteered to make lasagne.

I looked around and noticed that it was dark outside. We arrived here late in the afternoon so it was unlikely that I slept much longer than the requested 4 hours. I looked around and saw that Vince was standing outside at the front of the house, so the watch had obviously switched and I slept right through it. I was finding it hard to believe that I was so unaware of my surroundings, but I was exhausted.

I walked into the kitchen and sat at the table where a full plate of lasagne and salad was waiting for me. I looked around and nodded at Ranger, Ram, Woody and Hal. I saw that both Lester and Fiona were absent. Ranger smiled at me and said, "Lester was down earlier. He said that Fiona was still completely out of it. We can talk without her to begin with, but I figured we should eat first."

I nodded and replied, "I didn't realise how tired I was. I made a list of questions, but some of them might require me to contact several individuals. Is there a secure phone here that I can use?"

Ranger looked at Hal with a raised eyebrow so Hal stood and walked over to a drawer in the kitchen. He returned and handed me a satellite phone and said, "This is not your standard satellite phone. Hector has rigged it with a scrambler of some sort that blocks your location and number from anyone you call. It cannot be easily traced, even by General Matthews and his men."

I nodded my thanks and asked Ranger, "Shall you and I talk now? Or should I make my calls now?"

Ranger thought for a moment and said, "I think we should talk first. I might be able to answer some of your questions and I may have more for you to ask. I would prefer if Fiona and Lester joined us though."

"We're here Boss." I turned and saw Lester lead Fiona into the kitchen. She looked tired but in good spirits otherwise. Ranger looked at them and said, "OK, why don't you two get something to eat and we'll meet as soon as you are finished in the living room. Those of you off watch should get some rest."

I watched as the guys filed out of the kitchen and followed them. I didn't have my briefcase that held my usual notepads and my favourite pen, but I managed to find a ream of printer paper and a fewf Bic pens that would do the trick nicely.

I spent the next 20 minutes writing the various questions I had at the top of their own piece of paper. I would ask these questions with Ranger, Lester and Fiona present and try to fill in some of the blank space with contact ideas, guess work and any other information we might have. It would give us somewhere to start at least.

Ranger was the first to arrive. He sat down in front of the coffee table where I had laid out all of the pages and questions. He looked them over and was about to ask me some of his own when Fiona came in followed by Lester. They sat down on the love seat and looked between Ranger and me waiting for things to start.

I looked around the room and said, "We need to get a clear picture of the timeline for all of these events. Ranger, can you tell me when you last met with General Matthews?"

Ranger looked down at the paper I picked up and he started to speak. "Three and a half weeks ago, I returned from my final mission. My contract date ended while I was away, so I informed the General at that time that I was finished with missions.

"At first, the General ignored my statement. As the course of the debriefing went on, he kept saying things like, 'On your next mission' or 'the next time I see you'. When he shook my hand at the end, I felt like he still hadn't taken my statement about ending my missions seriously so I put it in terms he would definitely understand. I told him that I was finished running missions for the government. I wanted a life and I wanted to focus my energy on my company.

"The General laughed and said, 'I give it two months tops before you're back begging for a mission. I know how much you like them and how excited you get.' When I disagreed with him, he just smiled at me and said, 'Be seeing you around Manoso' as he walked out of the room.

"At the time, I just ignored him and got on with my life. I never imagined that he'd come up with a trap like this to try and get me back. There are plenty of younger guys who would be just as willing as I was at their age. I don't know why he's so fixated on me staying."

I was furiously writing things down as I listened to Ranger speak. It sounded like the General was already making plans a month ago to try and keep Ranger. Maybe he slipped up and said something at the early stages of his planning.

Ranger finished his first portion of the story by explaining that he was on a date the night he was requested down in Atlanta. We could easily prove that the men involved in kidnapping Lester were employed by the General. Our problem was proving that it was sinister rather than preventative like they explained to Fiona.

I looked at the paper for a little while in thought. I finally lifted me head to see all three of the people in the room with me watching me. I looked over at Ranger and asked, "Do you have any proof about the cancer and the whereabouts of Ramon Diaz?"

Ranger nodded his head and said, "I have a file back at RangeMan that contains photos and medical files. They don't have his name on them but we have facial recognition results stating that the man in the photos is Ramon Diaz, even if he is a bit emaciated from his illness."

I made a note of that and moved to the next sheet of paper. I looked at Lester and asked him to explain the sequence of events he experienced. Lester made short work explaining his kidnapping. He was picked up by a car that looked like a typical RangeMan SUV. He noticed something was wrong and was shot with a tranq gun. He awoke in a basement and heard two men speaking Spanish.

Lester recognised almost immediately that they weren't who they were pretending to be. Their use of the Paisa dialect wasn't convincing and when a second prisoner appeared, it was very obvious to Lester that things were not what they seemed.

I wrote down all of Lester's observations and turned my attention back to Ranger. "How did you locate Lester?"

Ranger explained about the searches RangeMan ran on the customer and his employees. They found one man that didn't fit the profile and they were able to link him to the General. Two of his employees were then able to locate properties belonging to this man. Lester was in one of those properties.

I wrote down Stephanie Plum and Lula's name. I made a note to ask about Lula' surname later. I next asked Ranger and Fiona to recount their story. When Fiona mentioned the license plate number, I wrote it down. She also quoted the number of the van that was left in the warehouse with them.

Ranger explained how they were located and I made notes to get the paperwork that is currently in the RangeMan offices pertaining to all of these searches. Finally, I went through my list of questions with the three of them. We all gave up around midnight. We were all tired and there was little more we could do tonight. I had about 15 pages of paper to review and I still had many unanswered questions. The phone calls and getting those answers would just have to wait until the morning.

More will follow at some point. I can't be 100% sure when though as the holidays are here and I have lots of things to get done.

L.