Bold section from Chapter 15

That left just one tracker unaccounted for. The apartment building on Stark Street. Lester and Junior had taken that one. I was trying not to be impatient with them. I knew it was taking so long because they were being thorough. There were probably 15 apartments in that building, and they had to search each one. Although that sounds easy, it's not. There are lots of hiding spots in an apartment.

While we were waiting for word from the last team, Woody buzzed from the front desk. Cal answered it and looked over at me, eyebrows raised.

I raised one back and waited to see what was going on.

"Uh, Rangeman, TPD is here with a warrant for your arrest."

I bowed my head. Of course they were. Unfuckingbelievable.

Chapter 16

Ranger's POV

"Call Tom. Have him meet me at TPD. You're in charge until someone from the Core Team returns." I barked at Cal.

He nodded and picked up the phone immediately.

Straightening my shoulders, I walked down to the lobby. A uniformed officer was waiting for me. It was someone new, someone I didn't recognize. When I walked into the lobby, the young officer's eyes widened noticeably, and he gulped. Good. Let the fucker be afraid. I knew it wasn't his fault that he was here. He was following orders. But that didn't mean I had to be nice to him.

He read me my rights, cuffed me, and took me in. Tom met us at the station. I have no idea how he got there that fast, and I don't care. I paid him big money; he damned well better be there as soon as he's called!

Eddie met Tom and me in a conference room with a thick file folder. He tapped it on the table and looked over at me. "Ranger, I really want to believe you're innocent in all of this. That's what Steph told me, and I want to believe that she'd never lie to me. Please, for the love of God, tell me you have an alibi for today!"

I looked over at Tom, and he nodded. "I was at RangeMan almost all morning. I left to attend a client meeting and then headed back. When I returned to RangeMan, Steph was gone."

Eddie nodded. "I'll type up your statement and have it for you to sign in a little bit. I'm going to let the two of you talk. I have to tell you, Ranger, it doesn't look good."

With that, Eddie stood and walked out of the conference room.

Lester's POV

When Ranger had asked where Steph was, I felt my stomach clench. I had been involved in the project I was working on, and I hadn't realized how much time had passed. She had been gone a long time. Too long. I immediately sent out a text alert to all of RangeMan. Similar to an Amber alert, this let them know to keep an eye out for Stephanie.

When Hal started assigning teams, I volunteered to take the apartment building on Stark. Hector, Bobby, and I had done a redecorating job there a while back, and I thought I was pretty familiar with the building. Hal had nodded, so I grabbed Junior and headed out.

Our protocol in such a case is to start at the top floor of a building and work our way down. This building had three floors plus a basement. Junior and I took the stairs two at a time to the third floor. Working together, it took 5-10 minutes to secure, clear, and search each apartment. Even though they were tiny, the apartments still had lots of places to hide a body- alive or not.

A shiver ran the length of my spine. No! I couldn't think like that! Stephanie was alive. She had to be. And we would find her.

Every time I opened a kitchen cupboard, I had chilling flashbacks of the Stiva kidnapping. I made myself continue. Stephanie had survived that ordeal, and she'd survive this, too. She was a fighter. We continued our search, looking in every closet and under every piece of furniture, especially couches and beds.

It took a half hour to clear the third floor, and then we moved down to the next level. We had just started searching the first apartment on the second floor when Cal sent me a text. Ranger arrested. Call when you can.

I immediately pressed the button to give him a return call.

"Yo!" he barked.

"What the fuck man? What has Ranger been arrested for?"

Cal sighed. "He's the main suspect in Stephanie's disappearance."

"What?" I roared.

"Bobby and Vince followed the SUV's tracker. When they got there, TPD was already processing the car. The back hatch was covered in blood and hair. They matched it to Stephanie's blood type, and they're rushing the DNA testing. Evidently the cops received an anonymous tip stating that they watched someone murder a young girl matching Steph's description. The murderer dumped the car there and moved the body somewhere else. The description of the murderer matched Carlos, and the getaway car was the Turbo."

I blew out a sigh and scrubbed my face. "Any of the other trackers been located?"

"Yeah. The one at the bridal shop was in her purse. It had been thrown in the back parking lot. The other was a pen tracker at Morelli's. No one's really sure how long it's been there. Could have been from today. Could have been from months ago."

I nodded. "Alright, man. Thanks for the update. We've got the third floor done here. No sign of her or the tracker yet. We're starting the second floor now. We've got three floors plus a basement here, so if any of the other teams are done, they could head over and help us out."

"I'll send Tank and Hector over. Bobby and Vince are still watching the SUV, and Ranger ordered Ram and Slick to tail Morelli, so right now they're out as well. I'll let you know if I hear anything else. Call immediately when you find the tracker."

"Hoo-ah." I ended the call. Shit!

Another 30 minutes later, we moved down to the first floor. I was getting desperate. We knew that one of Stephanie's trackers was here. We just didn't know which tracker it was or exactly where in the building it was. The best outcome would be to find Steph with it, but even if that didn't happen, we had to find the tracker. It might give us a clue about who had taken her or where she was now. Unfortunately for us, Ranger liked to plant trackers in all sorts of everyday things and then just dump them in her purse or attach them to her in some way- her keys, her earrings, her sunglasses. Stephanie was fiercely independent and hiding the trackers made it easier to track her and avoided a fight over them. However, that also made it annoyingly difficult for us to find it now. Junior and I had picked halfheartedly through piles of trash looking for it. If we hadn't found it by the time we cleared the basement, we would have to go back to the third floor and start over, going through each disgusting piece of garbage looking for it. Hopefully that wouldn't be necessary.

Bobby's POV

When we arrived at the warehouse, the entire area was cordoned off with crime scene tape. Blue and red lights flashed all around. I looked over at the RangeMan SUV, and my stomach lurched when I saw the bright red stains in the back cargo unit. I walked over to Officer Litner. He and I had a pretty good working relationship.

"What do you know?" I asked him.

He glanced at me and frowned. "It doesn't look good, Brown. Word is dispatch got a tip about the car. The witness saw someone matching Ranger's description murder a girl matching Stephanie's description. The guy dumped the car here and took the body somewhere else."

I clenched my jaw and balled my hands into fists. "There is no way that Ranger would ever hurt Stephanie!" I ground out.

Litner held his hands up, palms out. "Hey, man! I'm just telling you what I heard!"

I nodded and walked away, immediately pulling out my cell phone to call Ranger. He had wanted an update as soon as we knew anything. I let him know that the car was here, but no Steph. I was reluctant to tell him about the bloodstains in the back of the SUV, but I knew that he needed to know. I told him that I'd call back as soon as I had more news, and I ended the call.

I walked up to one of the rookies at the scene and asked to speak to the officer in charge. Officer Mitchell strutted over, and I groaned. This guy was a prick!

I nodded a greeting at him. "Officer Mitchell."

He nodded back and hooked his thumbs in his waistband. "I see the great RangeMan has lost a car." He drawled lazily, smirking.

I clenched my fists and forced myself to remain calm. Assaulting an officer right now wouldn't be in anyone's best interest. "I'd like to access the audio and video devices on the car, Officer." I informed him.

He looked a little surprised to hear that the SUV had recording equipment. He tried to cover up his reaction, but I had already seen the raised eyebrows and wide eyes. "Well, right now that car is a crime scene." He informed me.

I nodded. "Of course, sir. I'd be happy to follow all of your protocols, but those recording devices will show what happened in the car. Surely that's the whole point of your CSI team being here. To gather proof and evidence about what happened."

He bristled. "Of course it is!" he snapped.

"Then you have no objections to me pulling the recordings?" I clarified.

"Right now this vehicle is being processed by our CSI unit. When they're done, it will be towed to the impound lot. You can access the recordings there."

I clenched my jaw. "So you are deliberately preventing us from obtaining evidence, Officer?"

Mitchell glared back at me. "Your boss is the prime suspect in Ms. Plum's disappearance. Do you really think I'm going to let two of his employees near the crime scene?"

"Are you suggesting that we would tamper with the evidence?" I ground out.

He narrowed his eyes back at me. "Just keeping the chain of evidence clear. You can have a look at it when it goes to impound. Not until then." He stalked back to the scene, ducking under the yellow tape.

I sighed and pulled out my cell phone. It sounded like Vince and I would be busy for a while.

Ram's POV

Slick and I had arrived at Morelli's house to look for Stephanie. He grudgingly allowed us to come in and look around. Of course, she wasn't there, but we did find her pen tracker on the counter in the kitchen.

Something about Morelli seemed off. I could smell the beer on him, but further than that, he seemed agitated. When I called Ranger with the update, I was glad that he wanted us to keep an eye on him. Something was definitely up.

Slick and I crept around the house, training our binoculars on the windows. I found Morelli in the upstairs bedroom. He had two duffel bags on the bed, and he was loading clothes and toiletries into them. I raised an eyebrow at Slick. I wondered what kind of trip Morelli was taking. Where was he going? And who knew about it? He reached into a dresser drawer and pulled out a handful of bras and thongs. Shit! I could only think of one woman who would have underwear in Morelli's dresser drawers.

I dropped my binoculars and picked up my cell phone.

Ranger's POV

My cell phone had been beeping like crazy for the last hour. I had a shitload of text messages and phone calls. The teams were checking in, updating me on their progress. Although I appreciated being kept in the loop, there was only one call I wanted. I wanted to hear that they had found Stephanie alive and well. Other than that, I just didn't care.

Lester's POV

My cell vibrated with a text message. It was from Tank. Just parked outside. Heading in. I smirked. Evidently Tank didn't want us to accidentally shoot him if he just waltzed in while we were on high alert.

We had just moved to the first floor, so we waited inside the door for him. "Where's Hector?" I asked, looking behind him.

"He got pulled into Bobby's team. They're towing the SUV to impound, and they needed Hector to help download the camera footage."

I nodded at him. "We've done the top two floors. We need to do this floor and the basement."

"We all going together, or do you want to split up?" Tank rumbled.

I thought for a minute. We'd already been here an hour. We really needed to finish clearing this building and find the tracker. And hopefully Steph. I ran my hand through my hair, finally coming to a decision. "I'll take this side of the hall. Tank, you take the other side. Junior, start clearing the basement." The guys nodded, and we headed off.

As I approached the first door on my side of the hall, I thought I could hear a quiet thumping noise. I raised my weapon and stood to one side of the door, carefully easing it open. I stuck my head through the door. Nothing. So far the building had been vacant, but abandoned buildings like these were often home to squatters or animals. The noise I'd heard could be either of those things, or nothing at all.

I carefully cleared the front room which was a small living room, kitchen, dining room combination. When I stepped into the bathroom, I heard the banging again. It sounded like it was coming from the other side of the wall. In the bedroom. I finished my quick scan of the bathroom and headed to the last room in the apartment.

I moved against the bedroom wall and stood still, listening. The thumping noise was coming from the closet. I edged towards it, gun drawn. A dresser and mattress had been pushed against the closet door, holding it closed. I carefully shoved them out of the way and stood against the wall, reaching out with one hand to open the door.

As soon as it was open, a form came speeding out of the closet, head down and ready to head butt anyone in its way. When I saw the mass of crazy brown curls hanging down from the bowed head, my heart leapt into my throat.

"Steph!" I choked out.

She stilled and turned to look at me. Tears filled her eyes, she was gagged, and her hands were cuffed behind her back. She had never looked more beautiful to me, though! She ran over to me, and I grabbed her up. With shaking fingers, I loosened her gag and pulled it off. She was sobbing. I fished in my pocket for a cuff key and freed her hands, rubbing her wrists softly.

I picked her up and carried her into the hall. "I've got her!" I yelled. Tank and Junior came running. "Call Cal and Ranger." I ordered Tank. He nodded, and I headed outside with Steph.

I loaded her into the backseat of the SUV and pulled out a medical kit. "Where are you hurt?" I asked.

She showed me her wrists and arm. When I saw the needle marks on her arm, I felt myself growing violent. I tried to tamp down the rage so that I didn't scare her, but all I really wanted to do was punch something.

"What are these marks from?" I growled.

"Joe drew blood and put it all over the back of my SUV. He was trying to make it look like…" she broke off as another wave of sobs overtook her.

I nodded. I knew what he was trying to make it look like. And from what Cal had said, he had succeeded.

I put some salve on her wrists and checked the needle marks. Hopefully Morelli had at least been decent enough to use a clean, sterile needle on her. I swabbed the area with an alcohol wipe and covered the pinpricks with a large bandage.

"Anything else, Beautiful?" I asked softly.

She pointed to the bright red handprint on her cheek. "I'm sure there's something here. Joe slapped me pretty hard, and it feels tender. But that's it. All in all, this has been a pretty non-violent kidnapping."

She was trying to joke and play off what had been done to her, but she wasn't fooling me. Her smile was forced and fake, and her eyes were filled with tears.

Tank came out then. "We need to head to TPD with Steph. Now." He ordered.

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"They're getting ready to book Ranger and stick him in a cell. They need to see with their own eyes that Steph is alive and well."

We hurried to climb into the two SUVs and peeled out, headed towards the station.

Bobby's POV

When they were getting ready to tow the car to the impound lot, I called Cal. "I need Hal or Hector to meet us at the impound lot in ten minutes. They're towing the car, and Mitchell said we could pull the footage from the recorders once it was there."

"I'll send Hector. He and Tank are done following the bridal shop tracker."

"Hoo-ah!" I disconnected.

Tank's SUV came up behind ours at a light and followed Vince and I to the impound lot. We parked against the fence, and Hector hopped out, carrying his bag of tools and a laptop.

Tank rolled down his window. "I'm leaving Hector here. I'm being sent to Stark to help Lester and Junior. They're still working on clearing the apartment."

I raised an eyebrow at Tank, silently asking if there was any sign of Steph yet.

He shook his head just slightly, and I blew out a frustrated breath. Tank pulled away, headed to help Lester's team, while our team marched over to the guard shack.

"Mitchell gave us permission to download the camera footage from the black Explorer over there." I informed the guard, pointing at the SUV.

The young cop looked at our assembled group and paled noticeably. He was going to have to toughen up if he expected to survive as a Trenton police officer.

"I'll have to call Mitchell and get that verified." He informed us.

I nodded and growled. "Fine, but if Mitchell denies the request, I want to speak to him before you hang up."

The young kid bobbed his head up and down, nervously agreeing. He got Mitchell on the phone and held a whispered conversation with him before hanging up. "You're clear." He said, handing us the keys. "But he wants an officer present when the footage is downloaded, and he wants a copy of all of it."

I nodded. We waited a few minutes until the nearest patrol officer pulled into the lot. He climbed out of his cruiser and joined our group. We walked over to the SUV and got Hector set up. He unlocked the visible dashcam first. As we had expected, the hard drive was blank. Hector played with the files, and he was able to determine that the modification time stamp was just hours ago, meaning that Morelli had wiped it this afternoon.

Now came the moment of truth. Would there be anything on the second camera? The cargo area had been destroyed. First by Morelli and his invention of a crime scene. Then by the CSI team who had cut out sections of carpet, and swabbed the hatch from top to bottom.

We all held our breath as Hector pried open the hidden compartment that housed the hard drive for the second system. "It looks intact." He muttered to himself. "But only one way to tell for sure."

He pulled out his laptop and jump drives, fiddling with wires and connections. We watched as he began typing on the laptop, trying to access the files on the system.

"Success!" Hector hissed. A smile spread across his face as Hector turned the laptop around. We could see a paused section of tape- Joe shoving Stephanie into the SUV.

I turned to Vince. "Call Cal and Ranger." He nodded and immediately pulled out his phone.

I watched the footage over Hector's shoulder as he downloaded it onto his laptop.

Vince hung up from his calls and looked at Hector. "Do you have it all downloaded?"

Hector nodded.

"Then we need to get to TPD with the recording."

I raised an eyebrow at Vince.

"They're getting ready to book Ranger and stick him in a cell. They need to see the recording."

We helped Hector load up his supplies and climbed into our SUV, headed towards the station.

Ram's POV

As we continued to watch Morelli pack, my cell phone buzzed. I had a text from Tank. Steph found alive and well at the Stark address. It looked like an all RangeMan alert, so I guessed it was a follow-up to let everyone know that she was OK.

I was glad to know that our guys had her. While I had been watching Morelli pack for the two of them, I had a knot in my stomach. I had been worried for her. Worried that we wouldn't find her in time. Worried that Morelli would be able to take her away and we'd never find her.

While I had been thinking about the text message, Joe had finished packing. He was now carrying the bags to his truck. He climbed in his truck, and Slick and I climbed into our SUV. We stayed several car lengths behind Joe, trying to be just another car on the road. We made turn after turn trying to guess where Joe was taking us. When he made the left onto Vine Street, we knew where he was headed. The apartment on Stark. I wonder what his reaction would be when Steph wasn't there?

TBC