Unapologize

By: PricklySare

A/N: Thanks to Stayce who once again has been the voice of sanity and reason when my inner voice was speaking in tongues I didn't understand. I'd also like to thank everyone who has read and reviewed this chapter, and if I haven't personally responded, I'm sorry. I'm really trying to get this out as quickly as possible to you. We're coming up on the home stretch. Your reviews make my day, and I'm so glad you're enjoying the ride as much as I am!

Sare

Chapter Forty-Eight: Ranger Makes a Call

Ranger's POV

It took three days of continuous searching between myself, Kass, and Rico to find the information we needed. What we found did not bode well for the people involved. We looked into Steph, and what had been going on in her life the thirteen days I'd been gone. Rage threatened to consume me when I'd realized that she'd been targeted and attacked, and the hand that Kass placed on my shoulder was the only thing that reined me back.

"Carlos, you've got to relax."

I took a few deep breaths before responding, suppressing my desire to throw the computer against the wall. "Kass, do you see these pictures?" I asked, stabbing the key violently to advance through each image on the monitor in front of us. "She was held in some small town, piece of shit police station, manhandled, and denied her Constitutional rights." I slammed my fist down on the desk , knocking over a framed photo of Rico, Kass, and Alondra. "From these pictures she looks like she was in a lot of pain by the time she walked out with my core team and that Homeland Security Agent." When I found out who'd touched her, I would take great pleasure in making him suffer. There wasn't a hole dark enough for the son of a bitch to hide that I wouldn't find him, and when I did he'd pray that I'd kill him quickly to put him out of his misery. I'd make sure of it. That was, if Santos hadn't gotten to him first.

"I've seen them, but staring at them and dwelling on what happened won't get the answers you need so you can get back to her." I knew she was right, and if it were someone else in my place I'd be telling them the same thing, only not nearly as nicely. The fact was, though, it wasn't someone else. It was me, and I was having a hard time finding the place I'd locked my soldier. I was losing focus, and that could get me killed. "Do you trust your core team?"

"Of course."

"Then trust in them to do their jobs, and start focusing on what you need to do. You're supposed to be some highly trained mercenary. Prove it. Show me what my tax payer dollars have been used for," she demanded before turning and walking out the door. I stared at the door she'd shut behind her and just smiled. Rico was a lucky man, and when this was all over I was going to introduce Kass to Steph.

It took more time than I would have liked to find out who the Homeland Security Agent was, but once we knew his name we were able to uncover more information. The ambush at the gas station caused my adrenaline to spike, and my hands to become clammy, before I forced myself to relax. It appeared that while Steph was being transported to a safe house, they'd been attacked. That meant that someone had inside information as to where she would be transported and when. It also meant that she still wasn't safe. My men were undoubtedly involved as well, because I knew they wouldn't have trusted anyone else to protect her. Unfortunately, I had no way of confirming whether that was the case, and I wouldn't be able to until it was safe for me to contact Rangeman.

"Man, you're not going to like this," Rico said as he pushed open the door. I swiveled my chair to face him and lifted and eyebrow in question. "You, my friend, have been declared Killed in Action."

"No surprise there."

"Maybe not," he said, handing me a file folder, "but according to this, your identity and life was being erased before you ever set foot on Mexican soil." I flipped through the file, noting that someone had been systematically removing pieces of my life. There was no record of my military service, no record of a credit history or ownership of Rangeman. I'd apparently never attended college, nor had I graduated from high school. What really surprised me though, was the fact that several of my cover identities were being erased as well.

"Can you check on the condition of my phoenix alias?"

With a cocky smile he handed me another file, "Already have." I flipped open the folder and scanned through the documents inside. "It was a good thing you created this identity, wouldn't you say, Christobal?"

I nodded my head. "You know what this means, Rico."

"Yeah," he let out an exaggerated sigh. "You know that Kass is going to be a pain in the ass to live with when she finds out she nailed that Tracto was behind it, right?"

"I'm sure she'll make it up to you."

"I'm sure she will," he said with a laugh, "but what are we going to do about this?" I sat silently for a minute, my fingers steepled in front of my face. I really didn't have a lot of choices, at least none I was willing to bet my life on, so that left me with no options. I needed more information.

"What is your gut feeling on Agent Cassidy?"

"From everything we've uncovered he appears to be a stand up guy. A stint in the Seals, with work on several classified missions. He was captured during an assignment, and exfiltrated , with no apparent psychological issues. When his contract was over he applied to Homeland Security in 2006, and his file makes him out to be a golden boy."

"When was he captured?"

"2002."

Shit. "Where was that mission?"

"Venezuela."

"Did you manage to get the date of extraction?"

"20 April 2002."

"Fuck. Well, that could explain his involvement in this." Six years ago it'd come to my attention that a Seal had been looking for me, but he'd never approached me, and I never thought about it again. Until now. I'd only had command of my team for a year when we'd gone in to extract a four man Seal team from the run down Venezuelan prison. When we'd found them they were broken and nearly dead. I remembered one of the guys looked like he was barely more than a kid himself, and was in such bad shape that I'd picked him up and carried him out of the cell he'd been held in. It wasn't often that I saved a life instead of took one, so the moment stood out. "We need to call Agent Cassidy." I told Rico.

He nodded his head and grabbed a secure phone for me to use. "Good luck, man. I hope you know what you're doing."

"Me too." I dialed the number and listened as it rang once before it was answered.

"Cassidy."

"Agent Cassidy, I believe you have something that belongs to me."

The line was silent for a beat before he said, "What would that be?"

"Stephanie Plum."

"Call me back in ten minutes, and we can discuss that," he said and then hung up.