This is another chapter that switches back and forth between various points of view. Enjoy.

Fiona's POV

I woke up relatively early. Lula was still sound asleep. I rolled over and faced the wall, trying to get back to sleep, but try as I might, sleep did not come. My mind was too busy. I kept thinking about what the General had done and how I had almost been killed along with Ranger and his men who were there trying to rescue us.

The General's involvement never made sense to me. Of course he would be disappointed if Ranger left his employ, but he wasn't the only man available to do those jobs. He may be the best, but he deserved a life after sacrificing so much for his country. My only conclusion is that the General's hands are being forced somehow. Either he's being blackmailed or he's been promised something good in return for his participation.

My thoughts then turned to the men in the house. All of them, including the lawyer had served. They all were deeply loyal to one another and there was more to their relationships than just commander and subordinate. There was respect and more importantly, friendship. I could see it in the way the guys greeted each other when we boarded the plane. I could see it in the way they talked and interacted with each other. I could also see it in the way they protected not only each other, but the women they had in common.

Stephanie was an interesting woman. Within seconds of meeting her, I liked her, and that is rare for me. I usually find women to be unreliable as friends. Most are too caught up in their own little world to really offer anything other than their time at their convenience. I know I have a harsh view of things, but most of the people in my life for the last decade have been men. The women who were with me in the army always saw me as competition. They were never friendly. On a few occasions, they were even cruel and down right malicious.

Stephanie seemed different. She treated the men with respect but she still stood up for herself. She gave Lula all of the credit for everyone's safety, even when she played a big role as well. I know that Lula has a bit of a chequered past, but I don't' know the whole story. All I know is that Stephanie saved her life and they've been great friends ever since. I might get the nerve to ask Lula about it at some point, but not till things calm down a little.

Lula was quite a straight talker. She called me on Lester and she was spot on. I was worried about getting involved with him because of his history with women. I knew men like that could change, but it wasn't common. He's very fun and sexy, but I would enter a liaison with him wanting a relationship. He on the other hand, would probably just want a few good rolls in the hay. I'm sure they'd be good, those rolls, but not exactly ideal at this point in my life. I'm not getting any younger and if I want to settle down, wasting time on a good lay isn't going to get me closer to what I really want.

I sighed and decided to get up. I was as quiet as possible and managed to get out of the room without waking Lula. It's a good thing she's such a heavy sleeper. I walked down to the kitchen and saw that there was already a pot of coffee made. I looked around and found a mug and poured myself a cup. I jumped when Ram came in and said, "Morning Fiona. We're a bit limited on breakfast foods this morning. We have only have fruit salad, muesli and yogurt."

I smiled at Ram after I wiped up the coffee I spilled when I jumped. "That will be fine for me Ram. I can eat pretty much anything, as long as there's coffee." I held up my mug and moved into the living room and collapsed into a chair. I was most of the way through my coffee and considering a second cup when Stephanie joined me.

"I can't believe that we don't have anything to eat for breakfast." I heard her mumble.

"What do you mean? Ram just told me that there's food."

Steph snickered and said, "There's food, but it's not really edible in my opinion. Muesli tastes like dirt, and plain yogurt is revolting."

I laughed and said, "You can sweeten things up by adding some of the fruit salad to the muesli. It won't taste great, but it'll be better than nothing. If the yogurt was flavoured, it would be nice on the muesli as well."

I watched as Stephanie sighed and walked back to the kitchen. She returned a few minutes later with 2 bowls of fruit salad and muesli sans yogurt. She handed me one and then dug into hers. I smiled as I accepted the bowl and thanked her. I took a few bites and groaned. "You're right Steph, this is like eating dirt. What kind of muesli is this?"

Steph chuckled and said, "I'm not sure, but I'm so ordering room service tonight at the hotel. There will be lots of unhealthy foods for sure."

I smiled at this thought and said, "Count me in. I don't mind eating healthy food as long as it at least tastes like food. This stuff is almost inedible."

Steph nodded and said, "It didn't look too great when I dished it up so I put in loads of fruit to make up for it. The guys have all descended on the kitchen so there's not going to be an opportunity for seconds."

My head popped up when she said that the guys were all up. I wondered how Lester had slept. He had gotten the short straw in D.C. and was forced to sleep on a cot. He placed the cot outside my room which at the time, I thought was so he could try his luck with me. I found out later that he did it to protect me. I overheard him talking to Hal.

Just thinking about that single act of chivalry mixed with a bit of sexism brought a smile to my face. The smile turned to a grin when Lester walked in and said, "What's put that smile on your face Firecracker?"

Stephanie laughed and said, "Fiona agrees with me that this is not much of a breakfast. We've already decided to take full advantage of the room service at the hotel tonight."

Lester grinned and said, "We'll have to take that up with Ranger. You might give us away if you're seen opening the door."

Steph's face fell and Lester laughed. "Don't worry Beautiful. We'll make sure you get something to eat. We'll be in a suite that adjoins the room where Ranger will be confronting Rachel. We can get George or one of the lesser known RangeMan guys to answer the door when room service is sent up. Don't worry."

Once both Steph and I were finished with our breakfast, I took the bowls back to the kitchen and greeted the guys in there. Ranger saw me and said, "Team meeting at 10. I need you all packed and ready to leave her immediately after."

I nodded and said, "OK, I'm going to go get showered and dressed. I'll be back down shortly."

"Thanks LeBlanc. Please fill anyone in that you see between here and there."

I agreed and headed upstairs to my room. When I walked in, Lula was just packing up her bag. She was already dressed and ready for the day. "You'd better hurry Lula or all of the edible breakfast stuff will be gone."

She smiled and made her way downstairs as I gathered my things and headed into the shower.

Ranger's POV

The team meeting went well. Everyone knew where they would be stationed and what they needed to do as soon as we arrived at the hotel. We staggered our departure from the safe house and our arrival at the hotel for two reasons. The first reason was easy. We didn't want to draw attention to ourselves because of our numbers. The second reason was a little more practical. We needed to get Lula into position and we needed Hector to disable security and let us into the hotel service entrance. We needed to get in undetected and unseen.

The first group to leave was Hector, Lula and Woody. With them went a bunch of Hector's toys that Hector needed to hack into the hotel security feed. Woody would take up position in the hotel lobby and keep an eye out for anyone suspicious. He'd be carrying a smart phone that included a facial recognition app that Hector whipped up. If one of West's knows associates or the General's employees came into the hotel, Woody would know seconds after snapping their photo.

The second group to leave was Vince, Hal, Ram and Lester. They would be responsible for installing the surveillance equipment in the hotel hallways and the room where West would meet with Rachel. They carried all of their necessary equipment in duffle bags so it would be up to the rest of us to transport their personal belongings and swat gear.

That left Tank, Babe, Fiona, George and me to take the remainder of our equipment and gear. We climbed into the final SUV. Tank drove, I rode shotgun and George sat in the back with Babe and Fiona. We arrived at the hotel and parked in the back of the lot away from guest parking. We had to make three trips to get all of the equipment to the service elevator.

Lula's POV

I have never worked at the front desk in a Hotel before but I wasn't too worried. All I had to do was look up a person's name, take their credit card, punch in the codes on the screen and hand them a card. We know that West and Rachel show up sometime around 4PM. It's only 12 now, but we didn't want to put me in place too late because West might send out scouts and a last minute change to personnel at the front desk might spook him into not showing.

Early afternoon is a relatively quiet period. Guests have already checked out if they are leaving today and new guests don't usually check in until after 3PM. This gives us a few hours to get set up. Hector is currently crawling around on the floor under my feet. He's connecting a relay switch into the hotel's network so he can access all aspects of hotel security from the suite upstairs.

My first task once I was set up at the front desk was to make sure that all of the rooms surrounding West's usual room were filled by RangeMan personnel. If regular guests were placed in one of those rooms, I reorganised things so they were given a room on a higher floor or an upgrade.

Ranger would be placed in the room closest to the elevators. It's adjoining room would be used by Fiona and Steph to get Ranger ready for his meeting with Rachel. Apparently Fiona is going to make Ranger look like he's seriously injured. I didn't quite know how that would work, but I trusted them.

The room that has a connecting door with West's suite will house several armed men. Tank, Hal, Ram and Lester will be listening and watching the happenings in the room. Another suite down the hall nearer to the elevators will be where Hector and Bobby are located. They will keep an eye on Hotel surveillance to make sure that there is no backup available for West. They will take any suspected Black Scorpion employees out with tranquilizer darts if necessary. Woody and Vince would take up residence in the bar and keep an eye out for suspicious activity.

Working the front desk wasn't as boring as I thought it would be. I got to talk with people and I was able to participate in one of my favourite pastimes, people watching. I was wearing an earpiece that allowed the guys to talk to me. At 2:30, Tank came on and said that everyone was in position.

About 20 minutes later, I saw Woody move out of the corner of my eye. He lifted his phone and then I heard him say "Two Black Scorpion men have just entered the lobby. Vince and I will make ourselves scarce and watch from a more isolated location. We don't want them to see us."

At 3:00, Woody gave another update. "The scout party has just left. I can only assume that West's arrival has been cleared and his arrival is imminent."

Woody was right. About 3 minutes later, West came to the front desk and I checked him in like any other guest. West went to the elevators and made his way up to his room, completely unaware that we were watching his every step.

Less than an hour later, Rachel walked into the hotel and right past the front desk. She obviously knew where West was and went straight to the elevators. I had to stay on the front desk until 6PM, just in case West had eyes and ears in the lobby. This meant that I had no idea what was going on upstairs because as soon as Rachel arrived, Ranger requested radio silence.

Stephanie's POV

True to his word, Ranger had the necessary equipment at the hotel for Fiona to transform Ranger from a handsome and slightly bruised man into someone who looked like they barely survived a deadly explosion. I watched as Fiona added a piece of latex to the side of Ranger's jaw that was not bruised. The latex piece covered part of his cheek and ran down his neck. When she was finished, it looked like Ranger had been seriously burned.

The wound was extremely realistic and that was only one of the changes she made. She added a split to his lip, a cut above his eyebrow and a swollen eye with a bit more latex. I looked at the transformation and almost felt sorry for Rachel because she wouldn't know that this wasn't real. My sympathy for Rachel was short lived when I remembered her callous words when I was last in Miami.

Fiona was just finishing up when we got word that Rachel was now in the hotel. We didn't know how long she'd be here, but we had to be prepared for as little as 30 minutes and as much as 6 hours. While West and Rachel were occupied, we took advantage of the free time and ordered some food. Luckily for me, Ranger let us order whatever we wanted and he didn't even complain when I included dessert.

We were fed and watered and Ranger was in his own room. Now we only had to sit and wait for the show to begin. It's true that waiting is the hardest part. I knew this from experience. I hated stakeouts, but this was different. This affected the man I love and I was nervous that it wouldn't turn out as well as we planned.

Lester's POV

I'm glad that Ranger requested that he be looped out of the audio and video surveillance we had in West's room. He definitely wouldn't want to witness what we were seeing and hearing. West was one kinky bastard and the whole thing was making me uncomfortable. Just when we thought the awkward part was over, they started up again.

Rachel arrived around 5 pm and her and West kept things up until almost 7. I was disgusted with the way West was talking to Rachel throughout the whole process. It was like she was his sex slave and he was in charge. As soon as he was satisfied, he practically ordered Rachel out of the room. She smiled, escaped into the bathroom and emerged a few minutes later looking content and ready to leave. She picked up her purse, spoke to West and made her way towards the door.

I nodded to Tank and he broke radio silence and said, "Rachel is leaving the room. Go now Ranger."

Ranger's POV

As soon as I heard that Rachel was leaving, I hurried into the room beside the elevator and filled a bucket with ice. I was using a crutch to help me walk, and when I emerged from the room, I saw Rachel walking towards me with a hint of a smile on her face.

When Rachel drew near enough, she looked up at me and didn't recognise me. I stumbled and dropped a few cubes of ice and stared at her without moving out of her way. She took a closer look at me and gasped from shock.

"Carlos? Oh my god, you're alive."

The next chapter will be posted tomorrow. Thanks for your patience and encouragement.