DANGEROUS MERGERS

Chapter Eight

They had just finished helping Emilia clean up the kitchen when Manuel ran into the house, panic covering his face. "¡Rápido, oculta! Hay más puerta de ir de searchers a la puerta!" (Quick, hide! More searchers are going door to door!)

Enrique jumped up and tugged Stephanie's hand. "Quick! We must hide!" This time she didn't hesitate, but managed to stuff herself inside the small space with minimum fuss.

For a second time, Stephanie was cramped inside the hidey-hole. Damn, she felt like a piece of refolded origami. Without thinking, she started to open her mouth to complain. Enrique put a finger to his lips and gripped her hand tight, warning her to be quiet.

Stephanie rode through the wave of guilt that flooded her body when she realized how much danger Manuel and Emilia were in for hiding her. Even though Enrique was but a child, she knew he, too, was in danger. Now that she was feeling better, it was getting harder and harder for her to accept the fact that it was necessary for her to hide and not ask questions in order for these kind people not to be hurt. She squeezed Enrique's hand, hoping to let him know that they were in this together.

She and Enrique sat and waited while the conversation rumbled through the walls. The only word she recognized was "no", used several times by Emilia and Manuel. Both she and Enrique were sweating now. Please, oh please, she begged, leave these good people alone.

This time the search took longer, maybe a total of fifteen minutes. At last, she heard the sounds of heavy boots making their way out of the house. After another interminable wait, Manuel opened the cubby door and beckoned them out. She waited while Enrique conversed in rapid Spanish with Emilia and Manuel. His small hands duplicating the frantic hand gestures of the adults during their conversation. Spanish may have been a foreign language to her, but she read body language just fine. They were arguing over something. She had a feeling it was over her.

"What?" Man, woman and child turned to her. "What?" She repeated. Manuel said something to Enrique, Emilia added something else. Enrique nodded, then turned back to Stephanie. "Would anyone besides the government be looking for you?"

Stephanie's eyes lit up. "My husband."

¡"Sí! ¡El que lucha para la libertad"! (Yes, the one who fights for freedom!) Enrique waved his arms in excitement. "El héroe (The hero) himself! He is like the wind. We only feel his presence. He cannot be seen."

Stephanie snorted. Like the wind, huh? She could relate, but how did people who had never met Ranger know? Weird. She understood "el heroe" well enough, but not the other phrase. "Enrique, what does…?" Stephanie struggled to imitate the young boy's words. "… The whatever of libertad mean?"

Enrique's forehead creased with the effort of trying to find the right words. "A man who fights for freedom?"

Stephanie's eyebrow rose. "A freedom fighter?"

"Sí!" Enrique's eye shone with excitement.

Well hell, Stephanie thought. "Enrique, I think you need to explain a few things to me."

oOoOo

Miguel's mood continued to decline. As if being stuck in Cuba wasn't bad enough, the first report coming from his men was worse. No one had seen anything. No one knew anything.

Frustrated, he picked up a vase of flowers and hurled it against the wall. Not even the explosive sound of the vase shattering into a thousand pieces quelled his anger. Never in his life had he had this much trouble. Cubans were not easy to intimidate. They were used to being questioned, and his men were intimidating! Not many would hold up under this level of questioning and scrutiny. Why wasn't it working? Why was it so impossible to find one woman?

He worked to calm himself. He needed to think. They would have to expand the search area. She was there somewhere. It would not be easy for her to hide, an American woman, on her own, no resources available to her. Sooner or later, someone would notice. A sudden thought raced through his mind and he was gripped with fear. Was it possible she knew Ricardo's network? Had she gone to them? Perhaps she wasn't as alone as he'd assumed.

He grabbed his cell phone from the coffee table and stabbed in a number. "Padre."

"Has she been found?"

"No. The first search came up empty. We are expanding the area." He paused, not sure how his words would be received. "It occurred to me that the woman we seek might be aware of my cousin's local network and secured help from them. Do we have a list of names?"

Silence ensued for several moments. "It is possible Señora Manoso has sought out a member of Ricardo's team. We do not have a list, only suspicions; he protects them well." A longer silence followed. "Keep searching." Miguel heard the heavy sigh whisper through the phone. "Call again in twenty-four hours or sooner if she is found. I will make a decision then on our next move if required."

"Sí, padre, we will continue searching the area." Miguel hung up, cursing. Wonderful, another fucking day lost in wonderful fucking paradise. When Stephanie Manoso was found, he now had one more reason to exact his revenge.

oOoOo

"All the comforts of home," Ranger's tone was wry as he gazed around the Spartan room.

Will smiled. "A lot better than most we've been in, and among the best here. Bed, toilet, shower, sink," Will pointed in the direction of each location. "Food is just down the hall. You don't even have to catch it or cook it. Almost like parking your ass in the Ritz."

Ranger shook his head. "You're too good to me."

"Only the best for you, my friend." Will's boom of laughter made the thin walls shake. His laughter died down and his face settled into a semi-humorist expression. "Before we get down to the logistics, I want to hear about the woman who's brought the great Manoso to his knees. She must be something pretty special."

Ranger's eyes grew distant and wistful. "That she is." Pulling his wallet from the duffel, Ranger removed a picture, traced his index fingertip across the image before passing it over to Will who glanced at it and whistled.

"Okay, she's a looker, but there's got to be more to the story. I've seen some of the beauties you've been with and not one of them came close to being honored with a second date, let alone with getting you to stand in front of a preacher. So what else is there?" He passed the picture back to Ranger, who started to put it back in his wallet.

"Hey!" Leon snatched the picture from his brother's hands. "Don't I get to check out my new sister-in-law?" Leon raised an eyebrow. "Whoa! She gets pissed off at you for pushing her out of the plane, I'll be more than happy to spend some time consoling her."

Ranger shot his brother a burning glare. "Trust me, this is just another blip in the life of Stephanie Plum… I mean Stephanie Manoso. She knows I'll do everything possible to find her, that I'll always be there for her."

Leon laughed. "Oh yeah, the Bombshell's famous adventures, or should I say misadventures?"

"Who told you?" Ranger snapped and narrowed his eyes.

"Tank. He couldn't resist." Leon had grown up receiving that look from his brother. After having his nose bloodied twice, he had learned how to dodge, so he just smiled and flipped his eyebrows up and down in amusement.

"Did he also tell you that she always gets her man? Did he tell you that she always stumbles across the missing piece of critical information? Did he tell you that she never gives up?" Ranger's voice had risen with each question.

Leon held up his hands in a defensive gesture. "Hey, down boy. Yeah, he told me that too, but come on, Ric, you've got to admit the stories are pretty funny."

Ranger smiled with reluctance. "Yeah, they are pretty funny. Some of them, you had to be there to believe."

Will had been watching the exchange with interest, a smile playing on the corner of his lips. Damn, he knew there was a whole lot more to Stephanie Manoso than her looks to attract the interest of a man like Ricardo. "So, share already."

Leon laughed. Ranger sighed with resignation, a half smile showing on his face. "First, you have to understand, I'm not making any of this up…"

oOoOo

Stephanie was gawking at Enrique, her mouth hanging open. "Are you sure we're talking about the same Ricardo Manoso?" She found herself really hoping they were. She'd always known Ranger was a hero, but damn…"Ricardo Carlos Manoso?"

"Sí, as sure as is possible. People say he is a soldier with special training. He is younger than my father. I cannot describe him, not many can."

Stephanie sat thinking. On the surface it sounded like Ranger, but damn…

Enrique was doing his best to be helpful. "Manuel says that he has a friend who has seen him. Perhaps if he can be found, he could provide a description." He gave her a hopeful look. "Unless you have a picture?"

Stephanie smiled. "Sorry, Enrique, but I seem to have arrived without my purse." Taking a moment to absorb the information about her new husband, Stephanie shook her head. "So you're telling me that the family was very wealthy?"

Enrique nodded enthusiastically. "Sí, very wealthy. Before he was killed, the father used a lot of the family wealth to fund the underground resistance. After he died, his wife and children escaped to America, but the story says there was still much wealth left. Ricardo Manoso himself has funded the movement with mucho American dollars. He has also come and personally trained many of the resisters."

Stephanie's mind was whirling. Yes, it had to be Ranger. She knew he had money; it was obvious from the clothes, the cars, and the buildings he owned. She was beginning to gain a new appreciation for his 'not entirely legal, but morally right' principles.

Moving that kind of money into Cuba must definitely be on the government's list of things not to do. And even she knew that travel into Cuba from the States was not allowed. To do both placed him a subject to prosecution, but would fall right into his definition of morally right. To her surprise, she found herself in total agreement with Ranger.

Enrique's voice drew her wandering mind back into focus. "So to some in Cuba, you will be treated with great honor as the wife of our hero." The child frowned. "But not by others, especially by the rest of the Manosos…"

Stephanie's eyes grew wide. "The rest of the Manosos? You mean there are still relatives here in Cuba?"

Enrique's head bobbed. "Sí, here, and others in the United States. But they are not like your husband. They are not interested in freedom, they are interested in bad business and big money."

Stephanie drew a deep breath. "Enrique, I think you'd better tell me more…"

oOoOo

Will was laughing so hard; he was bent over and holding his sides. "Aw, man, that's beautiful." He took a few moments, trying to get his laughter under control. "I especially like the one about the Porsche and the garbage truck. Damn, I wish I'd been there to see that."

Leon, who had heard the stories once before, found himself reduced to hysterics. He couldn't wait to meet his new sister-in-law. The woman was priceless.

Ranger chuckled. He knew Stephanie couldn't believe he hadn't been upset with her when she'd destroyed his cars. He hadn't known how to explain that it just endeared her to him that much more. Maybe he was certifiable, but they were just cars. He would have gladly given her a dozen more, but she'd been so mortified, she'd refused to accept another.

The laughter died in his throat and from his eyes when he thought of her, how much he loved her, how much he missed her. While it had been a nice escape to share the stories with Will and Leon, it was now time to get down to the business of finding her and bringing her home. Before someone else, someone like Miguel found her. Ranger drew in a deep breath.

"Playtime's over, gentlemen. Time to get down to business."

oOoOo

Miguel cursed at his phone. Again. He'd lost count of how many times it had rung, each time relaying no news. Nothing. Not a one possible contact, not a single sighting, not even a fucking whisper. If he had not been assured that Ricardo knew her to be alive, he would have given up by now, assumed she drowned and washed out to sea. It simply was not possible for an American woman to disappear in a country where you'd be highly visible. Not without help. He glanced at his watch: only a few hours until he had to check-in. He would be expected to have some news this time or face failure. The sweet taste of revenge flowed over his tongue. He would not fail. He would get the information he needed one way or another. Ricardo and his bride would pay for his cousin's transgressions – both past and present.