Here is some more.. spanners and things thrown into the mix...

Happy New Year to everybody and thanks for the patience. I was away from civilisation .. no internet or even a mobile signal.

Ranger's POV

Morning came later than usual. I didn't wake up at my normal time and I didn't go to a gym or take a run like I am used to. It wasn't exactly ideal or safe to venture outside of the safe house just yet so I stayed in bed thinking about my Babe.

At 8AM, I gave up trying to sleep and headed downstairs to find almost everyone else up already. George was in the living room on the phone. He had dozens of papers spread out in front of him and as soon as he hung up one call, he would immediately make another.

Food miraculously appeared in front of me. I looked up to find Ram smiling and thanked him for his initiative and cooking skills. I dug into the food and raised my eyebrow in shock at how good the eggs were. I looked up at Ram and he laughed. He said, "My parents own a restaurant. They taught me everything they know. I can cook almost anything, but only for 5 or more people. I haven't really worked out the whole cooking for one or two people thing. I once had a girlfriend who was insulted when I cooked for her the first time. She thought I thought she was fat and needed a lot of food."

I swallowed and said, "That's a bit of a leap for her to assume you thought she was fat. Consider your evening shift covered so you can cook dinner. I'll take it so you can concentrate on the food. This is delicious."

"Thanks Boss, but my shift will be over with plenty of time for me to cook." I shook my head and said, "No Ram, you need that time to rest just like the rest of us. Tank has sent 4 men from Atlanta to join us so we'll have a bit more protection and flexibility. They are also bringing supplies so if there is anything in particular you need, please make a list and I'll pass it on to Tank. You have 20 minutes."

I watched as Ram returned to the kitchen with a piece of paper and pen to make his list. I was sure he would probably request a few items that were less than healthy, but that was fine with me. Sometimes you need comfort food and since Ram was more than willing to do the cooking for 14 people including the four from Atlanta, I wouldn't put any sort of restrictions on him.

Ram emerged 10 minutes later and handed me a list. I looked down at it briefly and then walked out of the dining room in search of Lester. He was holding the second satellite phone so when I found him in the den, I simply handed him the list and said, "Pass this on to Tank. We need supplies and the guys from Atlanta can stop at the store on the way in." Lester nodded, took the list and pulled out the phone.

I walked into the living room and found George talking on the phone. I was about to turn around and leave him in peace when he waved his hand and indicated that I sit down. I waited for him to finish his conversation and made myself comfortable.

"Ranger, something is not right here. The General's signature wasn't on your arrest warrant. He was just following orders, but it's not clear whose orders he was following. Every person I've talked to says that General Matthews has been acting extremely paranoid lately. If I was one to accept things at face value, I'd attribute this to his failing mental status. Now, I'm not so sure. How can we investigate this?"

I thought for a moment and said, "Maybe we should get my search experts to see if anything funny is going on. I'll make a call and we'll see if they can find anything."

I took the satellite phone from George's outstretched hand and walked up to my room. I dialled the control room and asked to be put through to Tank. Once Tank was on the line I said, "Hey, George has reason to believe that there's more going on here than we originally thought. I need Steph and Lula to do a search on the General and all of his family members. George is concerned that someone might be forcing the General's hand, but we have no idea who at this point in time."

"Sure thing Ranger, do you want to brief the ladies yourself?"

I thought for a moment and realised that if I heard my Babe's voice, I might have a hard time concentrating for the rest of the day. Instead of agreeing to brief them myself, I said, "I trust that you can take care of that Tank. Please call if they have any news. Also note that we only have the two phones here, so if necessary, try both numbers."

Tank agreed and got off the phone. I looked at George and said, "Tank will get back to us if they find anything."

George nodded and proceeded to tell me what he found out that morning. "The General was actually ordered to Atlanta. The hotel room that he stayed in was actually booked by a different department. When I asked a source to look into it, they couldn't find any record of the request or the cost codes used. It appears that somebody higher up than the General were responsible for Lester's abduction and your subsequent false arrest.

"A search on the General might produce some information, but if the search is to be successful, we need to know who made those bookings on behalf of the General."

I nodded and asked, "If we could get surveillance footage of the General at the hotel, perhaps he met with somebody. I'll get Hector on that right now. I'll also as Stephanie to contact he hotel to try and get some information on the General's booking. Maybe they know who made it or have a phone number on record."

George nodded and left the room so I could make my calls in privacy. First, I called Hector and asked him to see if he could access the surveillance footage from the hotel in Atlanta. He asked if I was looking for anything specific so I told him to keep an eye out for any meetings, hand offs or brush passes with the General. Hector agreed and told me that he'd get back to me as soon as possible.

My next call was to Stephanie. I didn't want to call her cell phone so I called the control room and was forwarded to her desk phone. "Hello, Stephanie Plum speaking."

"Hey Babe. I need you to look into something in addition to the search you are currently running on the General and his family."

I heard silence and then a sigh. "Does this mean that the General may not be guilty after all? Zip was really upset because he couldn't see the General doing something like this."

"I don't know for sure Babe, but some information has come to light and we need to make sure we have all the necessary information before we can move forward. If it turns out that the General is not to blame, I for one will be very happy.

"Now, we need to find out as much information as we can about who made the hotel reservation for the General in Atlanta. George was able to find out that the cost codes were false, but you might be able to find out some information. They don't normally allow a booking like this without charging a booking fee ahead of time, so the caller must have said or done something to get around this. I'm hoping you can use your mad people skills to get some helpful information."

"I'll do my best Ranger. So far we haven't found anything out of the ordinary about the General, but it's only been a little while and the main search hasn't even finished running. I'll make a few calls and get back to you."

"Thanks Babe. Hearing your voice has really perked up my mood. I was beginning to doubt this would ever end. I miss you and I'll try to call you later tonight."

"OK Ranger. Have a nice day and be safe."

After getting off the phone with Steph, I returned to the living room and handed the phone back to George. I explained that Hector would look at as much surveillance footage he could hack into and Stephanie and Lula would be working on the searches and looking into the hotel, so I'm sure we'll have something to work with from one of them soon.

Thanks for reading and keep the reviews coming. Next update soon...