Chapter 21

"Oh yes. They arrived addressed to me, though I can't remember ordering them. I suppose that maybe I thought they'd be a nice addition to the offices and rooms because the colors were masculine"

At least I felt easier that no one had been inside my apartment other than Ella and at least I knew how those damn ceramic pots had ended up scattered around the building. Someone must have ordered them and after adding the bugs repackaged it with Ella's name on it.

"Where did they come from Ella?"

Because if Ella could remember a name or address then maybe I could backtrack the order or how they were paid for.

"Oh, my. Let me think. It was when you were away when they turned up, I remember that Tank said that you'd be back soon so I was making sure that your apartment would be aired. Now what were they called?"

I waited patiently as Ella stood there with her expressions indicating that she was desperately trying to remember something about the package.

"Pottery studio, Kershaw Pottery Studio. I don't normally buy without seeing something first, but it was based in New York City, so I probably saw it in an advert online"

I knew that Ella could sometimes do that but not with something as trivial as ornaments. She was the type of person who visualized where she would place something when she saw it. I had the source so now I needed to find out some more information.

"If you don't like them, I can remove them"

"No. I was just surprised to see them"

Trying not to upset Ella. Hell, if she knew that she'd been tricked I didn't want to be responsible for upsetting her. I left Ella with her work to attend the morning meeting, noting that the room where Ajax and Flynn were working from was still locked up tight. After Tank had finished talking to the men I waited at the door as the men left leaving me with Tank alone in the room. As he collected together his papers, I walked around the table to stand next to him.

"Tank, any ideas on where Ajax and Flynn are?"

As he looked up to me, I could see that he was puzzled, though I wasn't sure if it was because of what I'd asked him or that I was asking at all.

"I know that they said they were following up on something. It never occurred to me that they'd be out of the office. Didn't they say anything to you?"

I shook my head as I cast my memory back to the last time that I had spoken to them. Ajax had said that they were going back to the beginning, though I had no idea where that would be, and they'd based that on Flynn feeling that something wasn't right about the intel on the bombing in Afghanistan.

"I'm sure when they feel that they have something concrete to tell you then you'll be the first to know"

I sure hoped so but if they weren't here in the office then were they still actively trying to track down our man? Did I want them to track him down at the moment when Steph was with him? I was cursing myself once again for leaving her with him, but she seemed to trust him and if I turned up and arrested him, I didn't want to think what her opinion of me would be. I needed to find our mole and then it would be safe for her here at Rangeman.

"I'm sure they will. I went through the applicants for the finance post, maybe we need to meet and decide who to look at. I'll get to the other job today"

What I'd said was effective at getting Tank to move onto a different subject and away from the FBI contract.

"I'll set up a meeting in the morning with Santos and Bobby. You okay for that client meeting this afternoon?"

I nodded my head even though I'd totally forgotten about it. Damn, I'd need to spend the morning prepping myself for that. Once in my office I pulled out the file from my in tray on the new client and read through the information that had been collected. An electronics company who sold over the internet and were investing in a large warehouse where their goods would be kept ready for delivery. It was a new purpose built building that was set in the better part of Trenton with good access to major routes. I couldn't see there being a problem unless the client was looking for a cheap answer.

By lunchtime I'd put together a proposal, backed up with where we would recommend cameras and sensors to ensure the security of the site. To be honest if the owners didn't like the proposal, then I wasn't prepared to take them on as a client. It was a high risk property that might attract thieves with what was inside and warranted the high protection along with the cost. That decided I went upstairs in order to change into a suit and grab some lunch.

I had the urge to talk with Steph so in the confines of my closet pulled out the burn phone and hit the one contact number that was there. A minute later I was feeling frustrated, worried and once again annoyed with myself when the call wasn't picked up. Sat on the bed all sorts of ideas went through my head as to where she was and if she was safe. I wasn't doing a very good job of protecting her and prayed that Gabe was a man of his word. A look at my watch indicated that I had the time for another call so blocking the number I called Kershaw Pottery Barn from the burn phone, hoping to have some luck with something.

"Good afternoon. Kershaw Pottery Barn. How may I help you"

Came the voice of what sounded to me like a young receptionist.

"I own the company Rangeman in Trenton and am wanting to chase up an invoice for some goods that were delivered here. My employee has lost the invoice and it's our end of year"

"Hold on a minute while I connect you to our finance department"

At least I didn't have long to wait before another woman's voice came onto the line. I repeated to her what I'd already told the receptionist and then waited.

"Rangeman you said?"

"Yes"

Not confident that she was going to be of any use.

"Ah yes. A delivery of assorted pottery sent to Haywood in Trenton. The invoice, well that's strange, the buyer requested that he didn't need one. Would you like me to send you a copy?"

At least the woman was being helpful but then again pottery wasn't exactly a high profile item to be kept a secret.

"Please. What name was used because I don't want him to be embarrassed at his mistake"

"A Mr Oslow. Who would you like me to send the invoice to?"

"Mr Louis Santos please"

Deleting the call I replaced the phone in the inside pocket of my jacket, feeling pleased that I now had a name but also concerned with what Mr Oslow was up to. To say that I was surprised was an understatement. I would never have considered the man as someone who was spying on me. I remembered that he'd been one of the men that Tank had employed and was confined to a wheelchair, but I'd been remiss in not looking more carefully at our new hires. Unfortunately, I had a meeting to go to so would have to wait to check the records on Mr Oslow until later. Maybe a talk with Bobby would be the best way forward in learning about him, you know, be the concerned new boss.

My meeting went better than I expected so once back at Rangeman I took the file to Tank's office for him to put in place an action plan.

"You manage to seal the deal?"

"Yes, did you doubt me?"

I knew that Tank wasn't always happy with meeting clients to iron out a contract. He hated wearing a suit and tended to become overbearing when having to deal with a group of people who thought they were superior. Maybe his size didn't help either in how he presented himself.

"That the signed contract?"

"Yes, I sold them the platinum version and then added ten percent"

I saw the grin that appeared on his face as he shook his head, as though he couldn't quite believe what I'd told him.

"Good job we took on those new men, at least we'll have the manpower now to provide them the best service"

I took that as an ideal opportunity to ask Tank about our new recruits regretting that I hadn't followed up before now.

"Maybe I should read through their files, get to know them better"

If Tank was surprised with me saying that it never showed. Instead, he stood up and went over to his filing cabinet and after rummaging through handed me a pile of files. At least he was still recording everything on paper. Looking around his office I spied the pottery holder sat on his desk with a selection of pens inside. What I'd said in here was innocent enough so was confident that it wouldn't raise any alarms for the person listening in. At some stage I would need to talk with Mac and probably Lester with what I'd found out about the listening devices. I was still reticent to mention having seen Steph and certainly wasn't going to admit that I'd met the man Gabe and let him out of my sight.

I showered, ate and then retired to the bedroom to read through those files, starting with Mr Garret Oslow who, according to what Tank had told me, was confined to a wheelchair. Whoever had done his search had done a very good job which made me wonder if it had been Steph. The initial pages that I read through was the typical search that would be run through our programs. A thirty seven year old man who had served his time as an MP with the army and then moved across to become a detective in Washington.

I suppose that he was like Morelli in that he had worked on joint cases with the FBI and it was while working one of those cases that he'd been injured and suffered an injury to his spine that had resulted in his paralysis. Being an FBI case there was no information on where or what work he had been involved in. Of course, Steph had questioned that. Maybe Ashcroft might be someone to ask.

The next pages were definitely written by Steph in her own way. I bet Tank hadn't even read through these because it took a certain knowledge of how she thought things through to understand them. Steph had extended her search by looking at connections. Family, friends and acquaintances, all of which would help to formulate an idea of exactly who the man was. He had never married, well a woman anyway, it seemed that he was married to his job. Devoted and determined were the adjectives that she'd used. No immediate family and few friends, probably because he didn't have time for them.

According to what I was reading he'd applied for the job because he needed a change of scenery and to work where he felt that he could be useful with the usual bullshit phrases of wanting to protect and ensure people's safety. Detail orientated with the capacity to further his skills into areas that Rangeman worked in. So why was he bugging Rangeman? Who was he actually working with and had it been him that was meeting with Lula and Terry Gilman? Mac was pretty sure that Lula was moving drugs so was Oslo involved with that, maybe working for Grizoli?

I went back to the reference from his superior officer and noted that he worked in vice. Was this personal? Did he think that being inside Rangeman might resolve for him the people who had been responsible for his injury? There had to be another reason and I was afraid in thinking that he thought that by being close to me and hence Steph that she would have knowledge that would be useful to him. No, that couldn't be the case because he was here before Steph saw that SUV, unless of course she was unaware of another connection that she hadn't told me about.

I wondered if Steph had been on the panel that interviewed him or if Tank had taken him on from what he'd read. Something to ask her, if she'd just get in touch. Thinking of Steph, I walked through to the lounge and turned on the TV, not interested in what was on, then returned to the bedroom. I was once again listening to the ring tone becoming disheartened by the second when suddenly I heard her voice.

"Yo"

I smiled as she used the expression that I would normally greet her with.

"Is your wound better?"

Wanting to know that the infection was under control and that she was feeling better.

"Yeah. Gabe checked it this morning and redressed it. We aren't on the boat now, we're at some Airbnb place just over the river. He had me dress like some middle aged woman and pretend that Millie was my daughter"

I smiled at that image.

"Babe, you'll always look beautiful to me. What you told me about seeing our Rangeman vehicle worried me, so I started to look at some of the new hires first. I wanted to ask you about the work that you did for Tank on applicants for posts here. Were you in the interview for Garret Oslow, the man confined to a wheelchair?"

That she answered me so quickly meant that she knew exactly who I was talking about. Now why was that?

"No. Tank and Bobby spoke to him via zoom because of a problem that he had with transport. Apparently, he was waiting on delivery of a car that had been adapted for him. I did the research though. Why?"

There was no easy way to say this to Steph and she wouldn't like it if I kept information from her.

"Someone has listening devices around here and I've traced the item that they're hidden in back to him"

I didn't like the silence that filled the air and hoped that Steph wasn't in any way feeling that she was responsible.

"You're frowning Babe"

Picturing her expression as she thought through what I'd told her. I needed her to be thinking through what she remembered about the details that she'd come across and work out if there was anything that might give me an explanation.

"I suppose that he reminded me of Joe and how he looked at life. If I remember right, he had his fair share of one night stands, but no steady girlfriend. I'd need to look at my notes again and follow up on some of the things that I wrote. Do you think it was him who was with Lula and Terry? What are you going to do about him?"

I'd had some time to think about this since making that phone call to the pottery place and whilst I'd like to just stick him in a cell and beat the truth from him, I didn't think doing that would be the best way forward.

"Play him at his own game"

Came from Steph which surprised me.

"Okay, sounds like a good idea Babe"

I hesitated slightly because Oslow wasn't her problem, he was mine, so I didn't want her to feel that she had to take on any of the responsibility.

"How about you giving me some idea of what happened after you left Trenton"

"Well, I bought a truck once I knew where I was going. I found Danny, well he found me, but when we went back to the truck so that we could leave someone had stripped it down. I ended up staying in this cabin and found out from Millie how all of the locals were basically stopped from leaving"

"How did you get hurt?"

"As usual I was too close to a building when it blew up. I hated what Millie told me, that some of the men were being forced to work for those foreigners so I decided to see what I could find out"

Of course that's what she would do. Damn, she'd been lucky not to have been hurt any worse.

"I think that I was probably high from all of the drugs in the air. Anyway, Gabe got us out and chartered a jet"

Which was why Ajax and Flynn had never discovered how Gabe had left the area. They wouldn't have looked for a family, only single men.

"It's strange that Oslow is bugging Rangeman. Why would he do that, what did he hope to find out?"

It seemed that Steph was still hung up over Oslow, but she had given me something else to think about and in a convoluting way had probably answered my question of how to deal with Oslow.

"So you're suggesting that I put ears and eyes on Oslow, see what he does and who he talks to?"

"Something like that, play him at his own game"

The sound of her giggling had my heart racing with how easy it was to talk to her, and I had to admit that she had made me come to realize that this new strategy might just work.

"Smartass"

"No, maybe I'm just pulling at straws"

"Babe"

Hearing the doubt in her voice I interrupted her before she began to second guess herself.

"I'm proud with how your mind works. I know you and how you always want to believe the best of people, so I'll go with the plan"

She could even be right with what she was thinking. The problem that I had was the fact that Danny and then Steph had ended up down in the Ozarks. Surely it couldn't be a coincidence, could it? I needed to move away from those ideas whilst talking to Steph and come up with a plan on how to follow up on what we'd talked about.

"How are you holding out?"

Knowing how much she hated being confined to a building with nothing to do and I suppose in the back of my mind I was also worried about Gabe being with her.

"Okay, I suppose. I just feel as though I should be doing more to sort this mess out. Gabe told me that he'd do some digging but I'm not sure that he's that familiar enough with the area. I've spent my time with Millie, relaxing and playing board games, but she's like me, she feels a bit hemmed in"

I took that opening as an opportunity to tell her what my life had been like when I'd been confined to the house due an illness. How easily I got bored and what my sisters came up with to occupy me. I suppose once I started to talk it was easy to open up a bit and I loved how she would laugh and ask questions. It seemed that her memories of being ill as a kid weren't always that much fun as I interpreted her sighs over how her mother would treat her.

"Hey, can we talk again soon? I gotta go before I fall asleep"

I hadn't realized how long we'd been talking for.

"Of course. How about I call you, same time tomorrow?"

"I'd like that"

Came from her with me with my native Spanish taking over my response.

"Buenas noches,Cariña"

As I sat on the bed, I was sure that I had a genuine smile on my face. I'd never found it easy to openly talk to someone, even Steph, but having a conversation over the phone seemed so much easier for me to do.

A change in the sound coming through from the TV had me suddenly being more aware of my surroundings. It sounded as though the voices were now giving a commentary on a game, not the history program that I'd left on. With my gun in my hand, I quietly moved through the bedroom and looked into the living area. A quick glance around showed that only Lester had dared to invade my privacy, again. I could see the top of his head, his streaked hair peaking over the top of the couch with his socked feet resting on the coffee table. No one else was here so as stealthily as I could I walked to the side of the couch waiting for him to be aware of me being stood watching him.

"Shit, Ranger"

Not wanting him to say anymore I raised my finger to my lip in the hope that he understood that I needed for him to be quiet. A quick look at the screen gave me an idea of what to say because him being up here would have been seen on the cameras.

"Told you the Marlins had a chance against the Red Sox"

With a nod of my head, I intimated for Lester to follow me through to the bedroom and closer to the closet. As I turned to him, I could see that he was puzzled by my behavior so sitting down on the floor began to quietly explain myself.

"Hector has discovered bugs around the building. I have one in the living area and one in my office. The core team offices, the breakroom and monitoring area"

"Shit. Do you know who?"

I nodded my head, remembering how I'd eventually sourced that information, though shook my head that Ella had played right into Oslow's trap.

"Oslow, one of the new recruits. He had some pottery delivered for Ella and she distributed them around the rooms"

"Those blue, brown pots with dried flowers in?"

At the nod of my head, I wondered how Lester knew about them.

"Most of the guys didn't appreciate them so they donated them to a local Thrift store. Damnit, some were pen holders, weren't they? So why have you left them in place?"

I explained what I'd found out about Oslow but wasn't prepared to let on to Lester just yet about finding Steph, or the fact that she was with a man who I was pretty sure was the unsub that the FBI were after. I still had a lot to figure out about that situation and wasn't about to discuss it with Lester.

"We play him at his own game"

I said using Steph's words. Once I'd told Lester what I knew, we planned our moves for the following morning before we went back into the living area to watch the end of the game. We even vocalized our differences concerning the two teams playing. Once the game was over Lester left the apartment and I went through to the bathroom to shower.

I rose at my usual time the next morning and went straight down to the gym for my daily workout. Facing the mirrors as I jogged on the treadmill gave me a good view of the rest of the gym and the men who were working out. By the end of my run, I knew that Bobby had come in and was helping Binkie with some exercises for his shoulder, so I went over to the weight bars and spotted for Cal. As I'd hoped Oslow rolled into the gym in his wheelchair and went over to the machine that enabled you to exercise your arms and upper body. He was adept at maneuvering himself from the chair onto the bench with his arms. It certainly emphasized his upper body strength. Once he'd pulled his legs into place Bobby was quickly stood next to him, giving advice.

I knew that Lester would be with Hector at the moment following the plans that we'd spoken about. My role for the moment was to ensure that they had the time to finish their work and if need be, distract Oslow, which it looked like I might need to do. As Cal dropped the bar onto the holder, I touched his shoulder before making my way over to where Bobby and Oslow were. Before Oslow had a chance to move from the bench I was stood next to him as he sat up allowing Bobby to leave.

"Carlos Manoso. I thought it time that I introduced myself to you"

I watched as he wiped his hands on the towel next to him before he held out his hand to me. Just that gesture reminded me that he wasn't ex military, but I shook his hand, feeling the strength in his grip.

"I heard that you were here in the office in Trenton. I've only really spoken to Tank and of course Bobby"

"How are you settling in?"

Going for sounding genuinely interested while I watched every nuance on his face.

"Good. I'm managing the work okay and Bobby, he's been great at sorting things out for me to make it easier"

I was aware of the adaptations that had been made in the apartment that he used though when this building was remodeled it had to include any facilities for disabled people. Extra wide doors, the elevator and different heights of desks and chairs. I already knew that Oslow had a specially adapted car that he used if he accompanied the men if he was helping with installations.

"It's good to be able to work outside of the building though"

From the corner of my eye, I noticed Lester step into the gym so knew that I could take my leave and go to the next part of the plan.

"Any problems and let me know"

Now that I was able, I was soon on my way back to my apartment in order to shower and grab some breakfast, along with some electronics that had been left in my bedroom. Thirty minutes later I was driving the turbo out of the garage and heading out of Trenton. My destination was a new office block up in Hamilton Township where we had a few clients, one of which was an old friend and the company lawyer. As I pulled into the underground car park, I knew that I hadn't been followed then again, the damn tracker on my car would inform someone of where I was. Approaching the elevator, I was making a call to Webster using the phone that had been left in my bathroom. I'd have to ask Lester how he managed that without being seen on the cameras though I had my suspicions that he'd asked Ella to deposit it there.

"Hello?"

"Manoso. I'm on my way up. I could do with a little help"

I got no answer so assumed that I was early enough to have caught him in and that he was on his own. Once in his reception area the woman behind the desk just smiled at me as though she was expecting me, so I was soon entering into Webster's inner sanctum with the door closed behind me. Webster was sat behind his desk, a pile of papers scattered over it and his glasses in one hand as he looked up at me.

"Trouble Carlos?"

I sat down and rested my elbows on my knees while I composed what I was going to say to him. He was my friend first but always a lawyer so I knew that I would have to be careful with what I told him.

"I have a man working at Rangeman that I'm not confident about, well at least not his intentions. I need some background information on him"

Charlie Webster had a good fifteen years on me, but he always kept himself physically fit. He was about the same height as me but with straight light brown hair cut into a suitable style becoming a lawyer of his experience. His raised eyebrow was the only indication that he gave me as he continued to look at me.

"He's a new hire, which according to the references and search that Tank did seemed above board, Garret Oslow"

Charlie sat back in his chair as though thinking before he was tapping on his computer keys.

"I remember him. I checked over his contract just to be sure that we'd covered any comeback through him being disabled. What exactly are you wanting?"

I knew that Charlie oversaw a lot of our employment contracts and could appreciate him ensuring that we fell within the laws with regard to disability rights. This was a different request all together.

"Do you still use that investigator down in DC?"

At Charlie's nod of his head, I felt more confident in putting forward what I wanted.

"I need an insider's perspective on his role as a detective, cases he worked recently and some inside information of what work he was doing with the FBI. Lastly some detail of his accident, how it happened and the outcomes"

Charlie had been making notes as I spoke and as he finished, I was waiting for what he might say.

"I think maybe Matt and Myla would be best suited for this. Matt has a lot of contacts and Myla, well she can be, shall we say, manipulative with how she acquires information. I'll talk to them and can send any information that they need. They won't be cheap, Carlos"

I knew that what I was asking for would cost a lot of money, but it would be worth it to finally have some answers.

"Never is, Charlie. Call me when you have something, and I'll come here"

Knowing that a visit to my lawyer shouldn't be construed as unusual.

"The papers for completing your contract are being processed, I should have those quite soon"

Standing I leaned across the table to shake Charlie's hand before making my way back down to garage. Strangely I'd forgotten that at my debrief I'd also gone through all of the legal work to finalize my work with the government. I was leaving Charlie with the headache of ensuring that everything was tied up without anything coming back on me in the future.

Pulling out the phone that Lester had got to me I opened up the app that showed me the location of Garret Oslow. It seemed that Hector had managed to get three trackers onto Oslow and at the moment all of them were on Hamilton, I assumed at the bonds office. No doubt he was there with Cal, as Cal was the one who usually collected our files, unless of course I volunteered because I knew that Steph was there. Of course, that had me thinking about where Steph was and the fact that Gabe was there with her. Gabe, now he was mystery. The man that we'd tracked from New York to Missouri as a wanted man by the FBI and Interpol. A man whose skill set focused on explosives and the man that I'd left Steph with. I hit my hand against the steering wheel because I was annoyed at myself for allowing that to happen, even though at the time it seemed like the best solution.