Clearly I've posted a smut scene on FF since it was in the last chapter, so instead here's a funny saying I heard one of my friends say recently. I hope it makes you laugh as much as it did me.

"You know that feeling, when you walk into a room and forget why you were going there? That's God playing Sim's and he just canceled your action."

Lol, Enjoy.

"Te Amo"

Chapter Eight

Pov- Julie

The room had gone quite when Shilo pulled out her phone. Ranger watched her punch in numbers, probably ticked that she was ignoring his questions. She had the strangest look on her face, like she'd just realized everything she knew in life was a lie.

I knew where her thoughts were going. She'd called the boy in the photo's, Ryan. She had to believe he was the older brother she'd lost so many years ago. He was dead; she had to be mistaken. I glanced up at the screen and wondered. I could sort of see a family resemblance between the two, but with the black and white photo I couldn't tell what color his eyes or hair were to see if they matched the photo she had shown me of her family earlier.

I was sitting right next to her side so I heard someone speak on the other end of the line even thought I couldn't make out the muffled words. I looked at her face just in time to see the change. Confusion and wonder turned to anger as her eyes narrowed. Shilo had hit full blow rhino mode in five seconds flat. "You lying son of a bitch." She said, her normally calm voice laced with venom.

"Shilo?" I put my hand on her arm and her eyes snapped to me.

I could see blood on her free hand so I grabbed it next, pressing my fingers gently into hers to get her to loosen her grip. She hissed when her hand relaxed, but kept her eyes locked on my face. I felt her shiver and her hand loosened on the phone, still pressed to her ear. I took it from her and put it on the table.

I watched her eyes flick to the screen and then back to me. "Are you sure?" I asked.

She nodded and I watched her face crumble. Tears pooled at the corners of her eyes and she shot a desperate look around the room before catching my eye again. I grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. "Come on."

Ranger had picked up her cell phone and was talking quietly with whomever she had called. I ignored him when he told us to wait and dragged her out into the hall behind me. She wouldn't want to lose it in front of everyone, if that's where she was headed. Her fingers were cold in mine and I could still feel her shaking with anger.

I pulled her behind me into another, smaller meeting room a few doors down. Ranger usually used this room when he was holding small meetings with clients. The room was neat and open with a long row of window's facing the street outside.

I pushed her down into one of the chairs and pulled another one over so I could sit in front of her. She never let go of my hand. I grabbed some tissues from the table and took her bleeding hand, wrapping it up as gently as I could. She sat there silently and watched me worked, lost in thought.

When I was done with her hand, I watched her until she looked up at me.

"Is it possible?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know." Her voice was barely more than a whisper and it killed me to see how lost she looked in that moment. In her time here, I'd seen Shilo be brave, cocky, remorseful, head strong and go toe to toe with the guys here like she owned the world. In our time alone, I'd seen her open up a little more and share moments of pain, anger, and sorrow with me. I'd never seen her look lost before.

"Shilo, you said Ryan died years ago." I reminded her as gently as I could. "What makes you think that man could be him?"

She shook her head her eyes locked with mine. "It was him." She said confidently.

"You can't be positive."

"He looks just like our father used to. He's the right age, Ryan would have turned 29 a couple of months ago. Ryan knew how to play the penny whistle." She said and I could see the hope in her eyes. She wanted it to be him. "He was really good at it." She continued, her voice trailing off.

"Shilo, who was that on the phone?"

Her eyes flashed again and she nearly snarled the name. "Col. Lowry."

"Why him?" I asked.

She shook again, the hand I was still holding clenched into a fist. "He was the one who told me that Ryan had died." She said. "Col. Lowry was the only person left the hospital could find to contact after the accident. If we'd both survived he would have been told. He had to have known. He did something, he split us up!"

The door swung open and Ranger and Bobby came in. Bobby moved to our side and took her bleeding hand from me. Ranger looked us over and handed Shilo her phone back. "We're sending teams out to look for the boy in the pictures." He told her. "Don't get your hopes up. Go downstairs; work it off. Don't come back up until you're ready to work." Then he left.

Bobby put some antiseptic on her hand and wrapped it in an ace bandage, but there wasn't much else he could do. Once they left us alone, I took her good hand and pulled her up to her feet again.

"Where are we going?" She asked, as I lead her into the hall.

I pulled her over to the stair well door so we wouldn't have to walk though all of the men on five. "The gym." Shilo wasn't crying anymore, but I knew she was just barely holding it together. When I needed to think I went to the gym and ran. Ranger always sent guys to the gym if they got worked up or agitated on a takedown.

Shilo didn't say anything else as I buzzed us into the gym. The room was mostly empty and I was glad. I pulled her to the center of the mats and tossed her one of the fencing bibs we had. She caught it and look at me.

"You don't fence." She said.

I shrugged and grabbed a pair of swords. "You do." I returned. "You're the one who needs to work off some stress and calm down." With the memory of our time together upstairs so fresh in my mind, I could think of other, more enjoyable, ways to relive stress, but Ranger had told her to go to the gym. He'd check to make sure she had.

We pulled on the gear and she took one of the Rapiers, checking the weight in her hand and stretching to warm up. I did my own set of stretches trying to remember everything Razor had taught me about fencing. Hopefully I could keep up enough to push her.

Once we were ready, we faced each other, bowed, and then I lunged. Maybe an aggressive offence would cover the fact that I had almost no defense. She blocked every one of my hits, spun away from me and tagged me in the side before I could twist to counter. She'd hadn't been kidding when she said she could fence.

I kept up my attack. She got in a dozen more hits while we moved. Had this been a real fight I would have died almost immediately. I liked my gun. I was able to keep her moving and, hopefully keeping her distracted from what had happened upstairs. She met me swing for swing, for over two hours, until my arm was jell-o and I could barely hold the rapier up anymore. She was coated in a fine sheen of sweat, but she looked fine.

"Julie,"

I glanced over my shoulder and found Razor watching us from the sidelines. He'd pulled on a sleeveless bib and was holding another sword in his good hand, his sling still hung across his chest.

"Are you crazy?" I asked. "You haven't been cleared for the gym."

He moved onto the mats and swung the rapier around in his hands. "I'm left-handed," He said, motioning to his bandaged right arm. "I'll be fine. Your not pushing her hard enough."

He took my place and I reluctantly moved off the mats. Shilo didn't raise her sword when he bowed. "Razor I don't want to hurt your arm." She said.

"You're good." He said, and I wondered how long he'd been watching us. "This is going to be fun."

He lunged and she spun away from him. They danced across the mats, Razor swinging and Shilo dodging without raising her sword to block him.

"Fight back." He called, swinging again. He blocked her exit and swung again.

She had no choice. It was swing or get hit. She blocked his hit and they started moving back across the mats. They matched each other blow for blow, the sounds of their swords meeting rang around the gym.

"What are you doing Razor?" She asked, once they'd parted.

"What's it look like I'm doing?" He asked, spinning his sword again, taunting her. "I'm kicking your ass."

They parried again, both of them swinging harder now that Razor had thrown the gauntlet down. Razor swung for her legs, Shilo dodged and tagged him in the ribs below his cast. "You can try." She taunted back.

They continued to fight back and forth and I could tell from the sweat soaking her shirt that Razor was pushing her harder then I had.

"What's got you so wound up?" Razor asked, as they parted after an intense set of moves.

Shilo shook her head and swung at him again. "None of your business."

"Talk to me." He said, swinging back and tagging her in the arm. "Everyone can tell that you're freaking out." He continued. "You knew the boy in the photo's upstairs. Who's Ryan?"

They continued moving, pushing each other across the room. Razor's defense was off without his other arm, but Shilo made sure to avoid hitting his sling. After another ten minutes, they'd fallen into a rhythm of swings and blocks. I was going to have to ask Razor for more fencing lessons. Watching the two of them move like this was amazing.

"He's my brother." Shilo finally said once they'd parted again. She was breathing heavy and her sword arm shook with fatigue.

"One of Col. Lowry's boys?" Razor asked.

She shook her head slowly, leaning on her sword for balance as she caught her breath. "No, my birth brother."

"Your file said you didn't have any family." He said.

"I don't." The lost and confused look was back on her face and it took all of the strength I had not to rush across the mats and hold her.

"Then what the hell are you talking about?" Razor pushed, picking up his sword and advancing on her again.

Shilo had her sword up before I could blink and they were back at it. Razor kept up his offence, forcing her to work for each step she took and breaking down the walls I'd been trying to get under all week.

"He died." She said, leaping away from a swing that would have hit her in the shoulder. "A long time ago, we were just kids."

"Then that can't be him."

"It was." She pushed. "I know it was."

Razor lowered his sword, but kept it tight in his hand. "You don't have a lot of friends do you?" He asked.

Shilo's eyes cut to his face and narrowed. "What does that have to do with this?"

"You don't trust us."

"I trust very few people." She agreed.

"You've got to tell us what's going on." He pushed. "We can't help you if you don't talk to us."

"I don't need your help!" She said sharply.

Razor moved fast, he swung his blade up smacked her in the wrist and then swept her feet out from under her. Shilo landed hard on her back. She'd dropped her sword and curst as Razor moved over her, and placed the flat of his blade to her neck. "Obviously you do."

Shilo laid there, eyes closed, while they both worked on controlling their breathing. When she opened her eyes, a single tear ran down her cheek and her voice trembled slightly as she spoke. "He lied to me. I know that was Ryan in the photos. We have to find him before the O'Donnell's do because they'll kill him."

"Why?" He asked. "How do you know the O'Donnell's."

My strength broke. I crossed the mats quickly and pushed Razor back a step, kneeling down next to her. I touched her arm and her eyes flickered to me. She took my hand in hers, weaving her fingers through mine and holding on tight.

"I don't know." She admitted, looking back to Razor. "I don't know what they want, I never did. All I do know is that I grew up afraid of the name O'Donnell. They hunted us down, slaughter us like animals anyway they could. I thought I was the only one who got away from them."

Her eyes cut back to me then. "That's why Col. Lowry took me in." She admitted softly. "He was my father's friend. He adopted me, changed my name, and hid me here in the states to protect me. He knew that if they ever found out I survived the fire they would track me down and kill me too. Now they've found Ryan and if we don't beat them to him, they'll kill him."

Another tear rolled down her cheek. Razor and I both just stood there, shocked. I tried to find my voice, but wasn't sure what I'd say anyway. Why hadn't she told me any of this? The doors to the gym swung open and we all jumped.

I glanced over my shoulder and found Tank watching us, arms crossed, frown on his face. I'd never been intimidated by Tank before. I'd known him since I was little. I could remember seeing him when I was seven and I'd come to Trenton to visit my Abuela Rosa with Ranger. Right now, he looked pissed.

Tank's eyes dropped to Shilo and I looked at her too. Her face had gone blank again except for the anger in her eyes and the tension in her body. She squeezed my hand and then she let go of me, pushing herself to her feet and taking a step away from us.

"What's up Boss?" Razor asked.

Tank nodded towards the door. "Ranger wants to see you all on five, now."

Pov-Shilo

Tank stood by the door watching us while we hung up the fencing gear and hurried to gather our things. Julie kept shooting me looks, but I couldn't get myself to meet her eye. I should have told her sooner. I'd seen the hurt in her eyes when she taken my hand. I'd told her I'd trusted her, but I hadn't told her the truth.

Tank waited until we walked out of the gym and followed behind us up the stairs. Felt like an escort to a hanging to me. I knew there were cameras in the gym. Could they be wired for sound too? Maybe the control room had heard my confession. I caught sight of a clock on the wall, maybe he was just mad we'd been down stairs for over four hours.

We entered five and walked out onto the main work floor and I stopped so fast that Julie ran into my back. Ranger was standing at the other end of the room, file in hand, talking with Col. Lowey. What was he doing here? When had he gotten here?

Razor moved around my side and nudged me. "What's up?" He asked following my gaze to the men at the end of the room.

I felt my eye's narrow and my jaw clench as he looked over at us. "You son of a bitch!" I lunged forward. Not sure what I was going to do, but in that moment I just wanted to get my hands on him.

Razor knocked me off balance before I'd gone more then a few feet and before I could resume my charge Julie had her arms locked around my chest, pinning my arms to my side, holding on tight.

"Let go of me." I demanded, struggling against her hold. My eyes locked on the two men at the end of the room. I wanted to hit him.

"Shilo?"

Col. Lowry started walking towards us. I continued trying to escape the lock-hold Julie had on me, but I couldn't think of a move to free myself that didn't evolve breaking bones. I stopped struggling, but she didn't relax her hold. The whole floor was watching us after my outburst.

Col. Lowry stopped a few yards short of us. "Shilo, please stop this." He said. "Let me explain."

"Explain what!" I demanded, nearly vibrating with anger. "What did you do? You lied to me. You took him away from me. He's still alive!"

"Yes," He said softly and I was so floored at his response I felt part of my anger fizzle out. It really was true, Ryan was alive. "I lied to you." He continued. He motioned to the file Ranger was holding and Ranger pulled out the close up Hector had gotten of Ryan's face. "I think your right, that this is Ryan." He said. "This boy looks just like your father."

"Why?" I asked. "Why did you keep him from me? You told me he was dead."

"You had to believe that." He said. "Just as he believes that you were lost in the fire."

My blood boiled again. He had known all along. Not only had he known, but he'd told Ryan I'd died as well. I hadn't lost my temper like this since I was seventeen.

"What?" I asked, my voice dark. "You told him I died. He saved my life! All this time you knew he was alive. You had no right to take him away from me."

"It was safer for both of you this way." He said. "I made sure that Ryan was sent to a good home. They changed his last name. He was safe, you were both safer apart."

I lunged forward again and Julie proved to everyone she was stronger than I was. She had both of my arm's pulled tight behind my back and even as I managed to pull her a step forward she muscled us back two more.

"Shilo stop." She said gently, her lips near my ear. "Come on please."

"No," I shouted. "Let me go. This is all his fault." I returned my glare to Col. Lowry. "How can you say he was safer off without me? We could have protected each other. Now they know where he is. You know they'll kill him if they get their hands on him."

"I only did what I thought was best for all of you." He said honestly. "You father entrusted me with the safety of his children if anything happened to him. When he passed away I promised your mother I would look out for you."

"How did you keep him safe?" I asked hysterically. "You sent him off, alone, to live with strangers! I bet they didn't even teach him how to protect himself. He's defenseless, alone, and unaware that he's being hunted!"

"Ryan was older then you. He knew too much. It was too big of a risk that the two of you would run off and get yourselves killed if he had staid. He was too old to forget what had happened. I always hoped you would."

I struggled against Julie again. "Forget! They took everything from us. I watched that house burn to the ground with my mother and grandmother inside of it, or were you lying to me then too. Did anyone else get out? How many member's of my family are you protecting! Who else are you hiding from me!"

He shook his head sadly. "No, your mother and grandmother were both found dead in the house. You know that. We had a funeral."

"We had a funeral for Ryan too." I reminded him bitterly. "You let me bury him, knowing he was still alive. There's a god damned head stone with his name on it!"

"Enough."

Ranger's voice cut through our fighting. He moved forward, a hard edge to his eyes as he looked me over. "You've been lying to us." He said. "You withheld information on our case. You've put my men and my family in danger."

"I didn't hide anything that would have helped you." I argued back. "My family history with the O'Donnell's has nothing to do with you finding Michael."

He shook his head. "That's beside the point. You knew that if you were discovered here you'd be putting my team in danger. You should have told us the risk of having you in the field near any of the O'Donnell's before you offered to help us."

"She was telling me and Julie downstairs." Razor cut in carefully. He looked over at me. "Right, that's what you were telling us before Tank got there."

I nodded. "Yeah,"

"Too late," Ranger continued. "Your identity has been compromised and you know it."

"What?" This was Col. Lowry. "You told me that Ryan had been discovered. No one mentioned they knew about Shilo too. They'll kill her."

Julie's hold on me tightened. "How'd they find her here?" She asked.

"Same way she found out about Lynch." He narrowed his eyes at me. "Did the O'Donnell boy you talked to this morning say anything about your necklace? I bet they found it, didn't they? Did they know what it was?"

When I hesitated, he added. "Do not lie to me again." in a dark voice.

I nodded. "Yes, they found it. The older O'Donnell's recognized it. They know who I am. They've talked to Gavin too so they'll know where to find me. I'm sorry."

"We need to leave." Col. Lowry said quickly, stepping closer to me. "I have some contacts, we'll get you put in a safe house, change your name again. I won't let them get near you." He promised.

I snarled and threw my weight against Julie's arms again. I wasn't going to hit him, I was going to kick the shit out of him. "I'm not going anywhere with you." I hissed. "You already abandoned him once. I'm staying here. We need to find Ryan before they kill him."

"No"

My eyes cut to Ranger. "What!" I asked, surly I'd miss heard him.

"I said No." He repeated slowly. "You're leaving, today."

"What?" The anger left my body and I pleaded. "You can't send me away Ranger. I have to help find him, please. I can help you."

He shook his head. "No, I can't trust you any longer. My team can't trust you. You're a liability to us now and I won't let you use my company and my men to seek out your personal revenge. Our jet will be waiting to take you back to New York in an hour. Leave your uniforms in your room. Where you go from there is your own business, but you will stay out of Trenton."

Julie's arms around me loosened to more of a hug then a tight hold, but I didn't fight to get away from her. This couldn't be happening. I glanced around the room and for the first time noticed the faces of the men watching us. Lester looked at me like I'd betrayed him. Bobby just looked pissed off and, at a nod from Ranger, he came over and took Julie's arm pulling her away from me.

"Hold on a second." Julie said, shaking his hold off and stepping closer to me again. "We can't send her away, he's her brother. She should help us look for him. She didn't mean any harm Ranger."

"No," Ranger said sharply, his gaze falling on the hand Julie had put out to touch me with. "She will stay away from my team."

Translation- Stay away from my daughter. I wasn't sure if Julie had found the time to talk to Ranger about us yet, but from the look on his face I was willing to bet everything I owned that he wouldn't approve of me ever being in the same state as her after this.

"Niña come on." Bobby pressed, reaching for her again.

Julie backed away from him. "No," She looked at Ranger. "She was about to tell us downstairs, there was no way for her to have known when she got here that our case would tie into what happened to her family all of those years ago. Not a single person in this room can claim not to have secrets."

"She never should have come in the first place." Ranger shot back. "Her history with the O'Donnell's makes it too dangerous for her to continue in the field. If they had recognized her sooner they could have tried to kill her at Wild Horse or in the ally. They might still come here looking for her. You could have been killed in the cross fire, any of us could have."

Julie opened her mouth to argue back, but I couldn't let her. She was willing to upset her relationship with these guys, with her family, for me. I wouldn't let her ruin those ties for me. "Julie stop."

She looked over at me. Her brown eyes cut to my heart like they always did and at the angle I could just make out the edge of the mark I'd left on her neck a few hours ago. "He's right." I continued. "I shouldn't have come here."

"Yes you should have." She argued back. "If you hadn't come here, we wouldn't have gotten anything out of the two men we've caught. You wouldn't have learned the truth about Ryan."

"No," I cut her off, raising my voice slightly. "I came here, hoping that during the course of your investigation I'd get the chance to learn why they'd attacked my family in the first place. I knew the O'Donnell's were dangerous and I kept silent." Maybe if she was mad at me she wouldn't get as hurt by my leaving. "I lied to you." I continued. "I put you in danger. I had plenty of opportunities to tell you the truth about how my family died and I didn't do it."

She turned to face me head on, hands on her hips. "That's bullshit and you know it. I bet you've never told anyone before, why would you have told me. You're too stubborn for your own good. I think we've all figured out that you have trust issues."

"That doesn't change the fact that I could have gotten you killed." I shot back.

"What about the shoot out at Wild Horse?" She asked. "Hu? You knocked me out of the way. I'd be dead right now if you hadn't been there."

I rolled my eyes, hating myself for what I was about to say. "No, you would have been fine, because you wouldn't have been there in the first place. Had Ranger and the team been here at Haywood when they got the call about Wild Horse, instead of at the airport picking me up, you never would have been allowed to go with them because Ranger doesn't trust you in the field."

Her eyes searched mine. I didn't know what she was looking for and I worked hard to keep my face blank. My words were mean, but they were true. "Don't do this." She said knowingly. I kept my face hard. I couldn't have her getting in trouble because of my stupidity. I never should have let us get as close as we had. I had too many problems. She deserved someone stronger than me, someone better.

"Look," I said flatly. "I would have left anyway. Now I'm just leaving before I hurt someone. Go find Ryan for me. Make sure he knows I'm alive."

She nodded, her eye's still locked on mine. After everything I'd done, she was still willing to help me. I should have trusted her enough to tell her. I dropped my blank face and matched her gaze. I hoped she could see how sorry I was for putting her through all of my crap. My eyes dropped to the mark on her neck, for just a moment, and she blushed. The tension in the room spiked and I was afraid that if I didn't leave fast we'd set the place alight; or worse I'd pin her to the wall, in front of everyone, and kiss her senseless like I wanted to.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled before I turned tail and ran, like a coward. I pushed past Tank and Hal on my way to the stairs and caught sight of Blaze and Razor. Razor gave me a sad smile, but it hurt to see Blaze pull away from me. Out of all of the RangeMen I'd gotten closest to the pair of them.

I pushed open the door to the stairs and nearly flew down the flight between five and four. I skidded into my room, making sure to lock the door behind me. There was no way I'd be going to the airport and it was only a matter of time before Ranger or someone realized this and came to look for me. I needed to be long gone by then.

I striped out of my RangeMan uniform, leaving it on the bed, and changing into a set of my own clothes. I pulled on a pair of dark jeans and a long sleeve gray shirt. I kept the black RangeMan boots. I tied my hair back, pinning it into the bun that Julie liked so much so it would stay out of my face.

I dumped my things onto the bed and clipped on my utility best. I couldn't bring everything so I would have to hope that Ranger wouldn't toss the things I left behind. My gun went at the small of my back, my throwing knives were on the belt near my hips. I tucked a knife in my boot, one along my forearm under my shirt and another small pocketknife went into my bra.

I added extra ammo, strapped on my flack vest, added a black windbreaker, and tossed a small bag of gear across my back, the strap crossed over my chest from my shoulder to my opposite hip. There was a knock on my door and I froze. If I answered the door loaded for bear like this, someone would get suspicious.

"Shilo?" It was Hector. "Open the door, I bring your computer for you. You going to need it."

I cracked the door open and found Hector standing in the hallway with my laptop. He saw my outfit and smirked pushing his way into the room and shutting the door quickly. "Don't want the cameras to see your outfit." He explained when I scowled at him. "I knew you wouldn't listen to Ranger."

"What do you want?"

He handed me my computer. "You're going to need this if you want to find your brother before it too late."

"Why are you helping me?"

He smiled again and his eyes softened. "I like you." He admitted. "You care about Julie. I can tell you do."

I nodded. "Yeah, well I messed that up just fine on my own, thanks."

"Not messed up." He said in his broken English. "Julie smarter then people give her credit. She know you were only saying those things so she could help find Ryan. If Ranger thought she was to upset he'd pull her from the case."

"I shouldn't have let myself get this close to her."

"No," He said gently. "You wrong about that too. It is hard to find someone who loves you as much as I think you love her. Steph and Ranger have it. So do you and Julie. She was right that you were supposed to come here. You do make mistakes though," He added. "Not good idea to lie to Ranger."

"Thanks for the advice." I said rolling my eyes. "You're a little late with that one."

His eyes narrowed making the teardrops tattooed there stand out even more against his tanned skin. "That wasn't advice, that a fact. You going to have to work hard to earn their trust back. My advice is this." Then he moved. I knew I was faster than he was, but I'd let my guard down. He pinned me against the wall, one of my own knives at my throat. "You hurt Julie, you in big trouble." He said darkly. "If you think Razor's good with a blade you should see me. I trained him. I care about Julie, a lot of us do. Don't mess it up."

Then he slid my blade back into my belt and backed up. He let himself out of my room and shut the door behind him. It took me a moment to pull myself back together. I think Julie underestimated how much the guys here cared about her. Hector clearly adored her.

I finished packing my things and was just trying to decide my best plan of action for getting out of the building when someone else knocked on my door. I peeked out the peephole and scowled at the man standing in the hall.

"What do you want?" It was Col. Lowry.

"Shilo," He said softly. "Look, I know I messed up. I always meant to tell you about Ryan. I just didn't know when the right time was. Please," He asked. "Can we just talk about this?"

"No," I said sharply. It might have been childish, but I wasn't ready to forgive him. If Ryan died, I probably never would.

"Alright," He agreed easily. "We can talk later on the plane. I have a few different ideas for how we'll hide you this time. If Ranger's team can get Ryan back we can hide him too."

I rolled my eyes. He could take the plane all by himself. If he really thought I was about to leave Ryan behind, it only proved how little he knew about me. I wanted until I heard the elevator close behind him before I started working. I'd figured out how I was going to get out.

The window in my room was a straight drop, four stories down, to the sidewalk below. Outside Julie's window however there was a tree. It would still be a decent drop, but I probably wouldn't break both of my legs. I flipped open my laptop and smiled. Hector had left a connection to the RangeMan cameras on the desktop. I didn't know why he was helping me, but I'd take it.

I hacked into the computers and went to the monitor on the fourth floor hallway. I recorded a three minutes section of empty hallway and set it to loop over and over again. Once that was done I quickly hacked into Tank's office computer. I didn't want to risk Ranger's since I was pretty sure he'd be able to tell. No way would Tank be on his computer right now.

I opened his file on the O'Donnell case and copied down the address we had for the O'Donnell's Point Pleasant house. If they already had Ryan, I was betting he was being held at this address. I also copied down the addresses for the four bars and restaurants we had confirmed Ryan playing at. One of them had to know how to get a hold of them. I tucked the piece of scrap paper into my back pocket, closed up my computer, tucked it into my bag and made a break for it.

I cracked open the door and checked to make sure the hallway was clear. It was. I scurried across the hall and a stuck my lock picks into the door. I wasn't the best with locks so it took almost a minutes before the door swung open and I slipped inside.

As soon as the door closed, I was hit with memories of the last time I'd been in here. I could still smell the scent of us, feel her fingers on my skin, and hear her voice as she said my name. I would never forget our one moment together and I was sad I'd never get the chance to come back here. No matter how this played out it would be to dangerous for me to return. I hope she knew that I'd never meant to play with her. I hoped she knew that I loved her.

I pulled a bottle from my back pocket and smiled to myself as I set it on her bedside table. The clouded glass was gold in color and shaped like a four leave clover. The name Shamrocks scrawled in elegant green scrip across the front. If my scent drove her half as wild as her scent did me, she'd appreciate the small gift. I could always get another bottle. At the last minute, I left my RangeMan phone on her bed too. I couldn't risk them being able to track me.

I tossed open the window in her living room and glanced out carefully. I knew RangeMan had outside cameras so I'd have to make this fast. I crouched in the window ledge and leapt before I had the chance to think about what I was doing. The gap was larger than it looked and I had a moment of panic as I dropped thought the air. I grabbed onto a thick branch and pulled myself into the tree, dropping through the rest of its leaves as quickly as I could.

I held my breath as I dropped the last three yards to the grass and hit the ground at a dead sprint. I had to get under cover before Ranger could send out SUV's to look for me.

Pov-Julie

I watched with the others as Shilo raced away from us and disappeared down the stairs. It took everything I had not to run after her. I'd known immediately what she was doing when she'd told me to stop speaking. Family was so important to Shilo; she wouldn't want me speaking out against mine in her defense.

When she'd asked me to help find Ryan I'd agreed just as quickly. It was obvious to everyone that Ranger wasn't going to change his mind and let Shilo continue to help us. She trusted me, so I'd have to stay and work this side for her.

Ranger barked out orders for the core team to meet him back in the conference room and for everyone else to get back to work. I took just one step towards the stairs and he called for me to come too. I joined Bobby, Lester, Tank, and Steph in the conference room and found Hal already waiting for us.

"We got an address from one of the bars." He said, showing Ranger a piece of paper.

"Are we going to talk about the giant elephant in the room?" Stephanie asked. You could always trust Steph to go straight for the throat.

No one spoke. I glanced at the boy's, but kept my face blank.

"Not much to say." Ranger finally said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "She leaves tonight; we don't have to worry about her anymore."

"You don't think she'll go quietly do you?" Bobby asked. "I'm sort of surprised she stopped fighting with you as easily as she did out there."

"Might be a good idea to put a guard on her room." Tank said.

Ranger nodded and reached for his phone. I couldn't let him do it. I knew that Shilo wouldn't stay. She'd leave and hunt down Ryan on her own. I was worried about the danger she'd get herself into, but knew that there was nothing I could do to stop her, so I'd do what I could to make it easier.

"You don't have to do that." I commented dryly. "She's not stupid enough to tangle with you, Dad. Besides," I added. "How exactly do you expect her to get out of the building with all of the men and cameras watching for her? Don't waste any of your guys on a lost cause."

Ranger thought for a second. "If she tries to sneak out, we lock her one of the holding cells until this mess is done."

"Julie, are you ok?" Stephanie asked me and for the first time in my life I wished she would butt out. Stephanie was scary good at reading people and she'd see the pain on my face if I let up even a little bit. "I know you and Shilo have worked together a lot this last week." She continued. "She was your friend."

"Still is." I corrected. "I'm upset she didn't trust me enough to tell me, but I don't blame her for keeping her secrets. I'm pretty sure the violent history of my family's murder wouldn't be the first thing I told people in a new environment either."

"She could have gotten you killed," Bobby said harshly. "You've been out with her alone multiple times. We're lucky no one's gotten hurt."

"She never meant to put any of us in danger." I started, trying to keep my voice even. "Maybe she made a mistake. There's nothing we can do about it now." I turned to look at Hal. "Where is this place?" I asked pointing to the address he had. "What did they tell you about it?"

The manager at a local bar had given Hal the address. He was friends with one of the other men in the band and this was his address. His name was Conner Molony. Hopefully Conner would know how to find Ryan.

"Defiantly sounds Irish to me." Lester commented. "Proves were on the right track."

Hal nodded. "He said we could probably get Ryan's address from this man. The house is about a half an hours drive from here."

Ranger nodded. "Then let's start getting ready. I'll grab a few more guys to come with us. Pack for anything." The he looked at me. "Julie I want you to come with us."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Why?" Shilo calling Ranger out on not wanting me in the field had hurt. Doing it in front of everyone had been embarrassing. Everyone knew Ranger had held off on giving me field work, but no one had had the balls to call him on it yet.

"I promised to show more confidence in you and your abilities." He said, reminding me of our conversation in the hospital only a couple of days ago.

I smiled softly, glad both for the fact that he believed in me and that I'd get the chance to help Ryan like I'd promised Shilo I would. Just then, the door bust open and Cal raced into the room a panicked sort of look on his face.

"Shilo's gone." He said. "We caught sight of her running down the sidewalk on one of the monitors just a minute ago."

I smirked proudly to myself. I knew my girl would figure out how to get out of dad's high security building. Nothing short of death would stop her from getting to Ryan now that she knew he was alive. I just hoped we'd get them both back safe before it came to that.

Ranger scowled. "How did she get out?" He glanced at Tank, "Pull up the monitors."

Tank started to mess with the computer in the conference room and Cal showed him which monitor to pick. We all watched as Shilo dropped out of a tree, packing more heat than Ranger probably took to invade small country's and took off at a sprint down the road.

"This monitor's on the wrong side of the building for her to have left from her room." Bobby pointed out. "Where did she leave from?"

Ranger stood up and stalked out onto the floor. "Track her phone!" Ranger ordered. "Where is she going? I want her found."

"She must have left the phone behind." Blaze said from his computer. "Its signal is coming from Julie's room on four."

Ranger threw me a look and I shrugged, following him as he took off for the stairs. I didn't have any idea how Shilo had gotten her phone in my room, unless she'd left it there after lunch. The door to my room was unlocked and I nearly had a hot flash as we walked in. The room still smelt like her, like us.

Ranger raced over to the open window and look out. "Shit." He cursed.

"Found her phone." Lester said, coming out of my bedroom.

I blushed and hoped that we hadn't left a big mess behind. I peeked into the room to check. The bed was a bit messy; my comforter was on the floor. Then I noticed the bottle. I knew there was a stupid smile on my face as I crossed the room and picked it up.

The bottle was deceptively heavy and the glass was cool to the touch. I took off the decorative top and shot some of the spray into the air. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. It smelt just like her.

"That's beautiful." I jumped as Steph came into my room and sniffed the perfume I'd just sprayed. "What is it?" She asked.

I shrugged and set the bottle back down. "Just something new I discovered recently." I told her. "I think it's my new favorite."

~Darkrose

Question 6- What's your favorite perfume?

R&R