Chapter 25
RPOV
Waking from a very poor night's sleep my eyes went straight to the phone sat next to me. Having never been aware of the ring tone going off during the night I suppose I expected the screen to be blank. It didn't stop the disappointment that I felt. Knowing that 0530 would be too early to be calling Steph, yet again I was back in the gym trying to work through the tension that seemed to have persisted from the day before.
Hopefully the meeting this morning would have me feeling better and at least have something that I could work on. Yeah, okay, I'd relented to the idea that I could manage and control what was going on. There were so many things that I was trying to keep track of that I knew that it was time to bring in the core team. Besides they had the right to know everything, and we were supposed to be partners and friends. It also meant that the sooner we sorted this mess up then the sooner things could go back to normal. I was determined that I'd soon be able to tell Steph that she could come home and be safe.
I'd arranged with Ajax that they would be a part of the meeting via video conferencing so that everyone involved would be kept up to date. Sat at the table in my office were Lester, Hector, Bobby and Tank with Ajax on the screen where we could all see him. I was pleased that Ajax had added a blank screen behind him so as not to give away his location.
"Hector"
I said as I looked at him in order to get the meeting under way. Hopefully Tank, Bobby and Lester would know that this conversation was focused on Oslow.
"His room was sparce with nothing out of the ordinary. Uniforms and equipment that Bobby had supplied. Nothing personal. There was a receiver in the ceiling recess above the tiles but if there had been any recording devices then they're gone. I've also been trying to track any calls that he made but there are very few, mainly work related. I suspect that he had another phone that we weren't aware of"
I turned to Bobby next, noting the papers in front of him that might give us an answer for Oslow's sudden departure.
"I started with the medical records that we received when Oslow came here and made some calls. They don't give a cause for his injuries only a prognosis from what they determined after tests. He'd been treated as an emergency patient and had surgery to remove fragments from close to his spine. The specialist I spoke to was concerned with the continued paralysis and confirmed that the physio that I was doing was the best way forward at the moment. He had no appointment to see him for another three months"
I wasn't surprised with what Bobby had told me because Oslow's disappearance seemed too sudden for me. Something had happened for him to up and leave like that.
"I'm trying to get some information on his injury and the emergency surgery performed but the surgeon is on sabbatical, out of the country doing charity work, and there seems to be a problem accessing the records. I've been assured that someone is working on it"
Maybe that wasn't an uncommon occurrence in some of the big city hospitals, but I was sure that Bobby would be able to unravel the red tape and get hold of those records. What he'd said though did give me pause for thought because we didn't really have any idea of how Oslow was injured. I was turning back to Hector with a suggestion that I hoped would give us some idea of how Oslow was injured.
"Hector, find out what the incident was that he was involved with"
There would be media coverage, especially as a police officer had been badly injured and maybe Hector could hack into the police records. What was becoming clear in my mind was that Oslow wouldn't be coming back to Rangeman.
"If he shows up here then I'll be ready for him"
Something that I think all of us were agreed on. I nodded my agreement to Lester and knew that between him and Hector the Rangeman building, and all of our systems would be purged to ensure Oslow could never gain access.
"Can we see where he he's been from the tracker in his car?"
I asked knowing that would establish if it had been Oslow's car that Steph had seen. That Tank answered me surprised me.
"Well, no. It was his personal car and as he rarely went anywhere on his own when he was doing Rangeman business then I asked Hector not to add one"
Something that I was sure that Tank was regretting from the look on his face. I suppose that we all expected some privacy during our time off and none of the men's personal cars were ever tracked, so I could understand the decision that Tank had made. It was me who provided the next piece of information, something that I'd done without telling anyone.
"I have no idea what his intentions were while being here, but I've asked Charlie to have two of his investigators do some background on him down in DC"
I was relieved when that got some nods of approval but hoped that we would have some results soon. Charlie had two people working the case and they were supposed to be good.
"Any more on Oslow?"
I asked looking at each man sat with me. I conceded that we'd probably covered what we could on Oslow. Now we would have to wait and see if he turned up again and in what capacity. I turned to the screen, noticing that Flynn was now in the picture as well as Ajax. He seemed far more confident than when I'd first met him and was pleased with the progress that he'd made.
"Ajax, Flynn. Our FBI unsub?"
"Gabriel Eagon and his younger sister Millicent Eagon. Both born in Ozark, Missouri. No father on either of their birth certificates and the mother's family looks to be based on the fringes with not a lot of information on them. Gabriel was a smart kid but an underachiever at school and maybe because of the lack of prospects in the area he enlisted in the navy at the age of eighteen. I couldn't get a lot of information on his service record, but you were right, he became a seal, special forces. Part of his pay check was always sent home to his grandmother so I'd say that he was very committed to his family"
Which was my impression from what Gabe had told me. Hell, he'd gone home because his sister had asked for help because she was afraid.
"After he finished with the navy, well he disappeared. There is absolutely nothing out there on him"
I was thinking back to that conversation that I'd had with him on the boat. He knew my name and who I was, even that I was under contract with the government. Not many people knew that because I had always insisted on keeping my information very confidential. Why had I never considered how important what he'd said to me was before now. All that he was doing was going home but knew that he wasn't supposed to. He was aware of someone tracking him. Did he think that I'd been sent after him for being in the country when he wasn't supposed to be here.
"Maybe he's working for a government branch"
Came from me, it made sense, more sense than him being a terrorist.
"Makes sense"
Came from Ajax as he shuffled some papers in front of him.
"It would account for why he's a ghost as far as we can see"
Looking at the men in the room I couldn't work out what they were thinking and was sure that they were surprised at what had been said.
"Ranger, what haven't you told us. Are you saying that the name of the FBI unsub is Gabriel Eagon, because I've got a feeling you know more about this guy than you're telling us"
I sat back in my chair as I realized that in order for Tank and the rest of the guys to be able to follow my logic that they needed to know everything. At least I could use the excuse of Oslow as my reason for keeping quiet.
"I got a message from Steph, on her phone, with her location. When I got there, she was with a man and his sister"
"This Gabriel man?"
Shit, that really didn't sound right so I was waiting for them to be annoyed with me. Yep, they were annoyed alright but instead of shouting at me I was being given cold stares.
"When I got there, we were attacked. Gabriel had an escape route planned and afterwards I had the chance to talk to him. I recognized him straight away but Steph, well he was keeping her safe and she trusted him. The whole job with the FBI, I started to question it"
I waited for the onslaught, but it wasn't as I expected. I was waiting for questions concerning Gabriel and why I hadn't brought him in or why I hadn't said anything to them.
"You left Steph with him"
A statement not a question to which I could only nod my head as it really hit me that yes, I'd left Steph with him.
"She trusted him and at the time, well it was probably me that led the men there that attacked the house"
"How?"
I looked at Bobby as he asked me that and realized that I'd only told Hector about the tracker that I'd found on my car. That was what had me determined to find out who the hell was putting me and Rangeman under surveillance.
"My Turbo had a tracker on it"
Hector knew about it but as he was very loyal to me, it seemed that he had never spoken to anyone else about it.
"That was when I became suspicious that we might be being bugged, but I needed to find out who it was"
"So now we know we can get our girl back"
Hearing Tank say that made me realize just how much he missed her as well. I leant forward onto the table as I realized that even with Oslow out of the building that couldn't happen.
"All I know is that she's safe. I have no idea where she is"
That I couldn't reach her on her phone wasn't helping with the worry that I was feeling, but they didn't need to hear that. It would make me sound like an idiot for leaving her, which I probably was.
This wasn't getting us any further, in fact the information from Ajax and Flynn had probably made things more complicated now.
"Ranger, I know you don't like coincidences but is it a coincidence that all this shit has happened at the same time? Us ending up down in the Ozarks where this Gabriel fella was, the explosions, that man Diego and then us being breached by Oslow?"
I knew what Lester was saying and maybe he was right. Could the things that had happened be a coincidence? No, but in the back of my mind I was conscious that somehow Steph had also managed to get herself entwined as well.
"The nephew Danny was down in the Ozarks. Steph found him but no one knows that. She got the kid home but made him promise that he wouldn't reveal anything to anyone. Maybe we need someone to have a talk with him"
Silence wasn't what I wanted but it was what I expected. No one would like the idea of having to talk to a teenage kid especially when he was part of the Morelli family.
"I'll do that. He knows me, so maybe he'll feel easier talking to me, especially as it was Steph who helped him"
All eyes turned to the screen to see Frank Plum stood there. Even I was surprised at his appearance and decided to react quickly before even more questions were thrown at me by my men.
"I'll leave that with you then Mr Plum"
Like that was about to happen. I could sense the annoyance radiating from around the table so wasn't surprised at what Tank said next.
"Full disclosure Ranger, no omissions if we're to have any chance of understanding what the hell is going on"
Fortunately, the screen went blank meaning that our connection with the garage was severed. I suppose by trying to keep things close to my chest it had totally backfired and here I was trying to salvage the situation. I'd always prided myself for having control of a situation, for being able to develop a strategy and have men follow my orders without question. I'd made the decision that with everything that had happened that I needed a team around me and now I had to share everything that I knew if we were to pull together and resolve our problems. Maybe that was why Steph always got so annoyed with me, the way that I would omit certain information and only give her what I deemed as necessary.
"Flynn and Ajax were put into a position of conflict where they weren't too sure who to trust or if every conversation was being recorded. Oslow was pestering them which had them feeling threatened. Flynn's father served with Mr Plum and had told him that if they ever needed any advice or help to go to him. That's what they did and Mr Plum arranged for a secure place for them to continue working from"
I looked at Lester because the next confession needed to come from him, seeing as he'd been the one to set it up. After looking at him for what seemed like an age he sighed before sitting forward at the table.
"When we went down to St Louis I brought in Mac, Henry Macdonald, because he was familiar with the area"
"Mac, as in drill sergeant Mac?"
Seemed that Bobby had remembered him as well and from how he grimaced it seemed not in a good way.
"Yeah. He was a great help so when we came back here, I asked him to work for us, kind of undercover. He's been doing Steph's job as a bounty hunter, keeping his ear to the ground"
I'd expected surprise or even more questions, so Tank bursting out laughing surprised me and of course Bobby joined in.
"I, I can't. I mean. He'll kill them"
Came from Bobby as he remembered how Mac used to be. Admittedly the man that Mac used to be probably would have hurt someone badly if they didn't obey his loud and extreme orders.
"Nah. Believe it or not he's mellowed, a lot"
It took a few minutes before Tank and Bobby managed to control their laughing and had gained some self control.
"Okay. What do you need us to do, because as I see it you seem to have everything covered"
Sitting back, I felt more comfortable than I thought I would. Yeah, Tank and Bobby were probably pissed me with me for keeping them in the dark but as usual they had my back. I went through in my head what we were working on. Ajax and Flynn were trying to chase down any information on Gabriel. Bobby was onto the medical details for Oslow while Charlie's people were gathering intel on him down in DC. Frank Plum was going to try and talk to Danny in an effort to find out what he knew and somehow Edna and her ladies were keeping an eye on Morelli. Hector, well he was onto whatever he thought was needed to be done with Lester helping him out and Mac would be keeping his ear to ground which left one issue that I still had no idea about.
"Tank, one of the things that Gabriel told me was that he destroyed the meth labs and any product because the locals were being forced to produce methamphetamine for José Diego. Can you talk to any contacts that you have and find out what he's up to?"
"José Diego? The name sounds familiar"
I could understand Tank not remembering the man, hell, I hadn't either. It was only because Lester had trolled through his classified government reports that he'd eventually found mention of him.
"He was connected to Hernández so it's possible that Diego has rekindled contacts and set up business. Maybe he hasn't the resources to provide the drugs himself, like Hernández, so is using alternative sources"
Tank never said anything, but I could tell that he was thinking through what I was saying. Maybe Diego and his drugs had nothing to do with the mess that we were trying to resolve but it was another thread that was worth exploring. The four men left my office quietly, obviously each of them absorbed in their own thoughts. It had been a long meeting and a lot had been covered. As I got up and walked over to my desk, I was wondering what I should do. Seeing as it was Sunday there was no point in trying to talk to Charlie, besides if he had anything for me then he would have been in touch.
As I sat behind my desk I actually felt at a loss as to what to do. Any files that had needed my attention had been dealt with and I had no reports to read through, being the weekend there were no client meetings. At times like this I would normally seek out Steph and keep her company if she had any skips outstanding but that wasn't going to be happening today. Sighing I powered up my computer and decided to look at the applications for the two jobs that we'd advertised. The core were in agreement with the applicants that we would interview for the financial assistant but as yet we hadn't conferred over the applications for the office manager position. Knowing that Tank's new woman was arriving in the morning I began to read through her application.
Maggie Peterson currently worked at a local veterinary practice as their office manager but four years ago had prior experience as a Business Support Assistant with the US Army Sustainment Command Center working out of Fort Stewart. Her resumé for that job alone made her application impressive and I could understand why she felt underused in her current position. Moving to be closer to family was the reason for the move which had me opening up the search program and looking for the search that Tank had already run.
A divorce four years ago could also have influenced her move and seeing that her parents lived in Philadelphia then she would be close enough to them. On paper Maggie looked like an ideal candidate for the position. She was accustomed to being around military people and procedures and her skill set certainly aligned with what we were looking for. It would be interesting to meet her in person, not only to see what it was about her that had enamored Tank, but also how well she fit into Rangeman.
I read through the other applications with no one seeming to measure up to what we needed. A couple were probably too young and lacked experience while others were working in areas that simply didn't give them the opportunity to acquire the skills that we were looking for. I would probably have called Maggie for interview regardless of Tank interjecting.
Sat thinking about the positions here at Rangeman had me considering the type of structure that we had. Our career structure was what I'd call flat, in other words we had no middle management. That meant that the core team were stretched, and several men were taking on responsibility over areas without the acknowledgement of being compensated for it. Cal was an example. He devoted a lot of time to bringing in FTAs that involved research, surveillance and take downs calling in men when needed. Without thinking about it or intending to do it I began to put together an organizational structure.
The evening followed the same pattern as the previous night, gym time, shower, food and I ended up going to bed without being able to contact Steph. I was beyond anxious now. I was worried sick but with no way to know where she was, I was also feeling very frustrated. If her phone was powered down or switched off even Hector wouldn't be able to get a trace on it especially as Steph's phone was similar to the one that I'd been given, just a cheap burner phone.
Sleep was impossible so I decided to go down to five and give the guys on monitoring duty a break. We'd been experiencing a quiet time with very few break ins over the last few weeks and tonight was no different. I began to think that being sat in front of the screens had been a bad idea because it gave me too much time to think.
"Thanks for that. It sure gets tedious watching these screens. The break was very welcome"
I was aware of Jerry Bergen sitting down next to me as Binkie took the opportunity for a break, recalling the information from his file. He looked a lot younger than his actual age of 48 with blonde hair concealing the few grey hairs that were coming through. His file had said that he was long sighted so needed to use glasses though a quick glance showed that he wasn't wearing any.
"It's not easy on the eyes having to be constantly looking at the screens"
A comment that I hoped would break the ice between us.
"Yeah. Maybe next time I'll wear glasses instead of contact lenses. Do you often cover on here?"
A valid question I suppose, so I was going to be honest with my answer, after all it was a way of getting to know Bergen.
"Less than I used to. At one time all of the core team were included in the rota but as business grew, we ended up being pulled in different directions. We help out when needed, over the holidays or when staff are on leave"
Yeah, I'd spent many hours at Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year covering shifts so that some of the men could spend time with their families. I didn't mind because I still made time to visit with my parents during the quieter times. Besides it gave me a reason not to have to be at the large family gatherings, which I never felt comfortable at.
"My wife died a few years ago and our kid travels a lot, so holidays aren't high on my priorities. Jenny and I, well we celebrate when she comes home"
I knew that his daughter had enlisted in the army so that accounted for how she travelled a lot. Strange that Bergen never mentioned that. He himself had been an army man with his family moving to wherever he was stationed. That had been a part of the reason that a marriage to Rachel never stood a chance, along with the long deployments. There had never been the love or commitment to make it work, just an unplanned baby, which hadn't been enough. Rachel had a new life and family, and our daughter was a part of that family, though recently I was making the effort to reconnect with my daughter.
"So, why apply for here?"
Maybe it was a direct question but something like that couldn't be gleaned from an application form or a search.
"I suppose I was a bit lost. I struggled to hold down a mundane job. Being here, well it feels like I belong"
I had no response for that other than a sense of satisfaction. That had always been one of my goals when I set up Rangeman, to be able to offer men from the forces job opportunities and somewhere where they could use their skills and feel comfortable. Too often men who left the forces struggled in a civilian life, so it was rewarding to know that Bergen felt comfortable here.
"Thanks Ranger"
Looking up I saw that Binkie had returned so after a nod to Bergen I left them to continue their shift. Not wanting to go upstairs to an empty apartment I made my way to my office, making use of the couch as somewhere to rest my head
